Reps. Lofgren and Cline Introduce DEFEND IP Act to Combat Foreign Digital Piracy
Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Ben Cline (R-Va.) have introduced the Deterring Extraterritorial Foreign Exploitation of Networks Damaging Intellectual Property (DEFEND IP) Act, H.R. 10575, on September 24. This bipartisan legislation aims to provide copyright owners with a new judicial remedy against large-scale foreign digital piracy sites. The bill proposes a two-stage process where a copyright owner can petition a federal district court to designate a foreign online location as a 'foreign digital piracy site.' This designation requires findings that the site's material or activity likely violates copyright rights and causes irreparable harm. The measure covers publicly accessible websites or online locations operated outside the United States or by unknown operators. Once designated, the petitioner can ask the court to direct covered service providers, such as broadband providers with at least 50,000 subscribers and public domain-name resolution services with annual revenue exceeding $100 million, to ...
