[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 87 (Monday, June 27, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H5225-H5226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MGM V. GROKSTER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I would join with my colleagues about 
today's unanimous decision by the Supreme Court in MGM v. Grokster, for 
it represents a great triumph for American creativity and innovation. 
File-sharing companies that actively coax consumers into violating 
copyright laws can no longer escape legal consequences under the guise 
of fair use. They will no longer be able to rip off from the talent and 
the hard work of our Nation's creators. In ruling for our Nation's 
creative artists, the Supreme Court today struck a proper balance

[[Page H5226]]

between the protection of intellectual property rights and the need to 
expand our technologies.
  As a representative of Hollywood, my district contains many movie and 
recording studios, which serve as the driving force behind our local 
economy and provide tens of thousands of jobs to many of my 
constituents. As Chair of the Congressional Entertainment Industries 
Caucus, one of my key concerns has been the continuing erosion of our 
Nation's copyright laws.
  Let me share some shocking statistics. According to recent FBI data, 
U.S. producers of movies, music, computer games, and software lost $23 
billion in 2003 to illegal copying. In Operation Digital Gridlock, the 
first Federal law enforcement action against a peer-to-peer network, 
regulators seized the equivalent of 60,000 illegally distributed movies 
last August. It is clear to me that piracy of our creative products has 
reached an epidemic level, both domestically and internationally, 
creating a huge drain on our economy, job creation, and technological 
innovation. We are forced to resort to legal actions to help stem this 
tide of intellectual property theft.
  That is why today's Supreme Court ruling was so important. In the 
unanimous opinion, the Justices held that ``one who distributes a 
device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright is 
liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties using 
the device, regardless of the device's lawful uses.'' It is this 
unequivocal guidance from our Nation's highest court that I believe 
will help enhance the effective enforcement of our Nation's copyright 
laws and strengthen the public's respect for the value of intellectual 
property rights.
  Of course, efforts to address privacy should not inhibit the 
continuing growth and development of our digital economy. New 
technologies should benefit not just the content distributors but the 
creative forces as well. But as the entertainment and technology 
sectors work together to utilize file-sharing networks to create new 
innovative and legal forms of content distribution, I hope today's 
decision will send a message to all pirates that winking and nodding at 
digital theft will not be tolerated any more than theft itself. I am 
confident that the lower courts will carefully apply this well-reasoned 
opinion in finding Grokster and other similar companies liable for 
activities that will induce their customers into illegal use of 
creative products.

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