[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 152 (Wednesday, November 16, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H10326-H10329]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT RUSSIAN FEDERATION MUST PROTECT
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the
concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 230) expressing the sense of the
Congress that the Russian Federation must protect intellectual property
rights.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 230
Whereas the protection of intellectual property is critical
to the Nation's economic competitiveness in the 21st century;
Whereas Russia remains on the Special 301 Priority Watch
List compiled by the United States Trade Representative
(USTR), and the Congress is gravely concerned about the
failure of the Russian Federation to live up to international
standards in the protection of intellectual property rights,
a core American asset;
Whereas the Congress wants to ensure that the Russian
Federation redoubles its efforts to adopt and enforce
aggressive laws, policies, and practices in the fight against
piracy and counterfeiting;
Whereas the Congress is particularly concerned that the
Russian Federation is, in the words of Senate Concurrent
Resolution 28, a place where ``piracy that is open and
notorious is permitted to operate without meaningful
hindrance from the government'';
Whereas, according to USTR, enforcement of intellectual
property rights in Russia ``remains weak and caused
substantial losses for the U.S. copyright, trademark, and
patent industries in the last year. Piracy in all copyright
sectors continues unabated, and the U.S. copyright industry
estimated losses of $1.7 billion in 2004.'';
Whereas the Russian Federation must understand that failure
to adequately protect and enforce intellectual property
rights will have political and economic ramifications for its
relationship with the United States;
Whereas accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)
represents an agreement to conform one's practices to the
rule of law, and to international standards in the WTO
Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights (TRIPS);
Whereas notwithstanding some recent legislative
improvements, Russia's regime to protect intellectual
property rights does not conform with TRIPS standards;
Whereas the United States can ill afford deterioration of
the world trading system by permitting the entry of a country
into the WTO that has not demonstrated its willingness and
ability to conform its practices to the requirements of the
TRIPS; and
Whereas the leaders of the G-8, including President Putin
of the Russian Federation, recently pledged to reduce
intellectual property piracy through more effective
enforcement: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that--
(1) the Russian Federation should provide adequate and
effective protection of intellectual property rights, or it
risks losing its eligibility to participate in the
Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program; and
(2) as part of its effort to accede to the World Trade
Organization, the Russian Federation must ensure that
intellectual property is securely protected in law and in
practice, by demonstrating that the country is willing and
able to meet its international obligations in this respect.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Shaw) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin) each
will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw).
Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Today I rise in strong support for H. Con. Res. 230. I commend the
gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) for sponsoring this resolution and
focusing congressional attention on this issue.
Russia's copyright piracy problem ranks with China as the two most
serious in the world, and it appears to be
[[Page H10327]]
getting worse. Russia has become one of the world's largest producers
and distributors of illegal compact discs and DVDs. Russia has the
capacity to produce more than 20 million compact discs a month,
providing ample supply of pirated material for export all over the
world. Not only is the Russian Government failing to crack down on
piracy, but officials even admit that several illegal plants are on
Russian Government-owned classified sites where regular law enforcement
is prohibited from visiting.
Intellectual property rights protection is critical to the United
States economic competitiveness. According to the United States trade
representative, Russia's failure to enforce IPR has ``caused
substantial losses for the United States copyright, trademark, and
patent industries in the last year,'' estimated by the U.S. copyright
industry to amount to $1.7 billion in losses in 2004 alone.
Russia must understand that failure to adequately protect and enforce
intellectual property rights will have political and economic
ramifications. Specifically, Russia risks losing its eligibility to
participate in the Generalized System of Preferences program, under
which the United States provides unilateral duty-free treatment to
imports from developing countries to encourage economic growth. In
addition, it must ensure that intellectual property is securely
protected in law and in practice as part of its effort to accede to the
World Trade Organization.
I urge Russia to take immediate and effective steps to properly
inspect all optical media production facilities and to shut down
illegal plants and Internet sites, strengthen border enforcement,
combat piracy and counterfeiting, and address deficiencies in its IPR
laws.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H. Con. Res. 230 to tell
Russia that it must be a responsible and dependable player in the
international marketplace.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that we are considering this resolution
today. I am deeply concerned by Russia's failure to effectively
confront piracy of DVDs, music, and software. Last year, U.S. companies
lost $1.7 billion as a result of Russia's failure to crack down on
piracy.
This is not a new problem. Each year since 1997, the administration
has cited Russia in its annual Special 301 Report for failing to
adequately protect and enforce intellectual property rights; and,
unfortunately the problem is getting worse rather than better.
In 2004, Russia's illegal optical disc production capacity continued
to increase so much so that Russia is now supplying other countries
with pirated products. Pirated discs produced in Russia have been found
in more than 27 countries. The largest commercial Web site of pirated
music is also based in Russia, and the Russian prosecutors have refused
to initiate a criminal investigation to shut it down.
Mr. Speaker, piracy of intellectual property in Russia means lost
jobs and opportunities here at home for American workers and
businesses, and it must be stopped. I believe that Congress must send a
strong message to Russia that the United States will not stand by while
Russia robs U.S. workers and businesses of their intellectual property.
The resolution we are considering today would put Russia on notice
that it risks losing its preferential trade benefits under the GSP
program if it fails to improve its protection of intellectual property
rights. The resolution also would put Russia on notice that Congress
takes its intellectual property rights violations seriously and will
consider whether Russia is making meaningful progress on this issue
when we consider whether to grant Russia Permanent Normal Trade
Relations status.
I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this important
legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the
gentleman from California (Mr. Issa), the author of this resolution.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the chairman, the full
committee chairman, and my cosponsor of this bill, Congresswoman
Watson.
We traveled to Russia earlier this year. We saw firsthand that it is
not just about piracy; it is about a complete absence of a willingness
to enforce that. On the main streets of Moscow, in fact, within sight
of Red Square, one can every day see advertisements for movies, DVDs of
movies that have not yet been released, impossible to exist, literally
not existing in the United States; and yet they exist in Russia,
already translated into Russian and, yes, as the chairman said earlier,
into many other languages and exported around the world.
{time} 1300
The Russians admit that they have more than four times as many
optical disk producers as they could possibly justify. And although we
often talk about DVDs and music, we also need to recognize that
Microsoft and other major software producers are being robbed of
countless billions in this process.
Many talk of the WTO accession and whether or not it is appropriate
for Russia to be granted that, and I certainly agree it needs to be
withheld until there is a showing of a willingness and a proven track
record of enforcing these laws.
But I want to make one other closing remark here. We pay, we the
world pay world-class prices for oil no matter where we buy it in the
world, and today that is $60 a barrel. Russia is one of the largest
exporters of oil to Western Europe; and yet in a time when they are
receiving $60 a barrel on what costs them less than $2 a barrel to get
out of the ground, they will tell you they cannot afford the
intellectual property produced by Neil Diamond, Steven Spielberg or
from Bill Gates' company. This is disingenuous.
Mr. Speaker, if they want to be part of a World Trading Organization,
they have to recognize that value is not determined by what you are
willing to pay; value is determined by what you are willing to pay for
the legitimate goods in an arm's length relationship. We pay world-
class prices for oil. They should pay world-class prices for
intellectual property and not literally steal it from the inventors
here in America and in Europe.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Watson), the co-author of the resolution.
Ms. WATSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the resolution
that I coauthored with the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa). It
expresses the sense of Congress that the Russian Federation must do
more to protect intellectual property or risk losing its participation
in the generalized system of preferences and be prevented from joining
the World Trade Organization.
I want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr.
Issa), for his hard work in crafting this most-needed resolution and
for being such a strong voice on the global protection of intellectual
property assets. The resolution came about, as he described, after a
trip that we took with other members of the International Relations
Committee to Russia in May of this year.
During the trip, we learned firsthand the extent of the IP piracy
problem in Russia which has reached epidemic levels, second only to
China in the world. Indeed, the U.S. copyright industry lost over $1.7
billion last year due to Russian piracy and over $6 billion in the last
5 years, and the situation is getting worse.
When we visited in May, the number of optical disk plants was 36. Now
it is 42 with a production capacity that far exceeds Russia's demand
for CDs and DVDs. Even by recent Russian government accounts, 16 of
these plants are the Russian State (owned) Restricted Access Regime
Enterprises where regular law enforcement officials are prohibited from
visiting. Such information is truly disturbing.
I represent Hollywood, California, the center of the U.S. copyright
and creative industry. My constituents inform me that because of
corruption, inefficiency and ineptitude in Russia's justice system,
U.S. industry complaints have been routinely dismissed. The few
sentences that have been handed down are wholly inadequate and non-
deterrent.
[[Page H10328]]
I fear that, unless Russia substantially improves IPR law and
enforcement practices, Russian participation in the world trade system
should be restricted.
This is the reason why I introduced this along with Mr. Issa to
condition Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization on the
Russian government's demonstrated commitment in meeting its
international obligations and protecting intellectual property rights.
We understand that to curb the proliferation of IPR violations in
Russia, it is not enough to focus on how many laws are passed by the
Duma and how many raids on optical disk plants are being conducted each
year. We have to generate a sense of urgency and motivate the political
will of the Russian government.
Simply put, a healthy and vibrant global trade market should not
tolerate the ongoing systemic piracy of intellectual assets, and the
Russian political establishment must understand that. I am pleased to
note that over 100 Members of Congress have cosponsored this
resolution. It will send a clear and convincing message that the United
States Congress is looking at the issue closely and that real reform
must happen now. Once again, I want to thank the congressman for his
leadership on this issue. I urge my colleagues to support this critical
resolution.
Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from
Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture.
Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House
Concurrent Resolution 230, expressing the sense of the Congress that
the Russian Federation must protect intellectual property rights.
As co-chairman of the Congressional International Anti-piracy Caucus,
I am very concerned about the appalling levels of copyright piracy in
Russia. Russia's copyright piracy problem is among the most serious in
the world, and it is getting worse. In Russia, 80 percent of all motion
pictures and 87 percent of business software are pirated. I have
personally witnessed pirated American copyrighted works, movies, music
and software, sold openly on the streets in Moscow, even in view of the
Kremlin.
Considering that the core copyright industries account for 6 percent
of the U.S. gross domestic product and the total copyright industries
account for approximately 12 percent of U.S. GDP, it is clear that
America's businesses are facing a serious problem in Russia. In fact,
the FBI estimates that U.S. businesses lose between $200 and $250
billion a year worldwide to counterfeit goods.
We must make sure that each nation recognizes that piracy is a global
problem. The growth of piracy among organized crime rings is
illustrative of its global scope.
The combination of enormous profits and practically nonexistent
punishments by many foreign governments makes copyright piracy an
attractive cash cow for organized crime syndicates. Often specializing
in optical disks and business software piracy, these crime rings are
capable of coordinating multi-million dollar efforts across multiple
national borders. Russia has become one of the largest producers and
distributors of illegal media material, and the increasing number of
optical disk plants in Russia has a production capacity that far
exceeds Russian demand for copyrighted works.
Another disturbing trend is the growing willingness of foreign
governments to condone the use of, and even use, pirated materials. At
its best, government sets the standards for the protection of rights.
At its worst, government encourages and even participates in the breach
of those rights.
By recent Russian government accounts, 16 optical disk plants are on
Russian State (owned) Restricted Access Regime Enterprises where
regular law enforcement is prohibited from visiting. In addition,
corruption in Russia's justice system results in the routine dismissal
of piracy complaints or inadequate and non-deterrent sentences.
We all must realize that copyright piracy and counterfeiting are
serious problems that do not merely affect private companies' bottom
lines in the short term. They also discourage investment and innovation
in the long term which will eventually lead to fewer consumer choices,
a repercussion that affects entire societies and economies. Government
must work together to reward creators and punish thieves.
In addition, counterfeit goods can pose serious risk of bodily harm
and even death. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that trade in
counterfeit goods makes up between 6 and 9 percent of all world trade.
With products as essential as airplane parts and car brakes being
faked, we must focus attention on this growing problem for the sake of
our citizens' safety.
In passing House Concurrent Resolution 230 today, we send a clear
signal to the Russian Federation we will not stand idly by while our
copyrights are infringed. The Russian Federation must make fighting
copyright piracy a priority for the country and law enforcement
authorities. And, if Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization
is to be approved by Congress, Russia must make meaningful progress
against piracy now.
I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this important
resolution. I commend the gentleman and gentlewoman from California on
this issue.
Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas
(Mr. Gohmert).
Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues from
California for pushing this forward.
The abuses of intellectual property are not only harmful
economically, but they can be harmful to our physical well-being and
safety, and not just here but also in the Russian Federation.
When Russian companies steal products that are patented, copyrighted
or trademarked, but they do not adhere to the proper safety standard
such as electrical wiring, car parts and hair driers, consumers can be
physically harmed. So there are really two prongs why we must urge
Russia to shape up their intellectual property enforcement.
First, because of the harm to our creators and artists; and, second,
to the threats to safety since oftentimes the goods that infringe are
substandard.
Copyright piracy abroad hurts our economy here and the high-tech
industry, since it is such a strong driving force behind our economy,
piracy stifles its growth and productivity. Copyright holders should be
protected to ensure that we continue to innovate and advance technology
both at home and abroad.
Local industries have been crippled when high-quality pirated
versions of their products are sold abroad. This can also result in
lost tax revenues and lost jobs here at home. The Russian Federation
must also work to protect and enforce intellectual property rights for
its own good as well.
For example, if the intellectual property rights that encourage
innovation and invention are not protected, incentives will be lost,
the innovations and inventions will cease; therefore, the Russian
Federation as well as the rest of the world will lose out on these
life-enhancing innovations.
Nonenforcement of intellectual property rights because of either
neglect or greed will figuratively as well as literally kill the goose
that is laying the life-enhancing golden eggs.
Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this very
important resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment Ms. Watson and Mr. Issa
for bringing this most important resolution to the floor in a very
fine, but too often rare, bipartisan effort. I urge all Members to vote
for it.
In the last 25 years, our relationship with Russia has warmed up
considerably and we are enjoying good relations with the Russian
Federation. However, to extend this into full trade, we need to be able
to respect each other's intellectual property rights. Therefore, I ask
for a ``yes'' vote on this resolution, and I hope the Russian
Federation is listening to the United States Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Culberson). The question is on the
motion offered by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw) that the House
suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res.
230.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of
those present have voted in the affirmative.
[[Page H10329]]
Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this question will
be postponed.
General Leave
Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the subject of the resolution under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Florida?
There was no objection.
____________________