Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act
Floor Speech
ENFORCEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ACT -- (Senate - September 16, 2008)
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I would like to inform my colleagues of my request to be notified of any unanimous consent agreement that would allow for the consideration of S. 3325, the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights Act of 2008. I intend to reserve my right to object to any such request.
S. 3325 was marked up by the Judiciary Committee just last Thursday afternoon. I circulated several amendments to address a number of concerns I had about the bill. Two of my amendments--one that would add USDA to the list of agencies on the IPEC Advisory Committee, and another that would provide for an orderly transition from NIPLECC to IPEC--were adopted by the committee. However, I withheld from offering other amendments because I received a commitment that the chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee would work with me to address my other concerns.
For example, I have concerns with the funding of the new State and local law enforcement grant programs in section 501 and the grant match ratio for those programs. Further, I have concerns with the creation of a new intellectual property crimes unit at the FBI to enforce intellectual property rights and the authorization of additional funding, resources and staff for the FBI to implement these additional responsibilities. I firmly believe that the FBI should focus its efforts on combating terrorism. I am concerned about duplication with work currently being performed at ICE and its National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center. Moreover, I am concerned with language calling for the prioritization of cases involving foreign controlled companies, and the lack of any priority for cases investigated by the FBI that have a nexis to potential terrorist activities.
My staff will be sitting down with the chairman and ranking member's staff to work on my concerns. Again, I intend to reserve my right to object to proceeding to the consideration of S. 3325 until my concerns have been addressed.
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