Background: The Justice and Commerce Departments yesterday sent a letter to the Senate opposing key parts of pending intellectual property legislation (S. 3325). The letter is here:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/doj-letter-20080923.pdf
The following is the statement of Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“We are pleased that the Justice and Commerce departments agree with us that it would be a mistake to give the Justice Department the authority to pursue civil suits in copyright cases. As the departments said in the letter, and as Public Knowledge has said repeatedly, the private sector has all the resources necessary to pursue cases that companies want to pursue. The government should not be turned into the law firm for wealthy copyright holders.
“We hope that the sponsors of the bill will take these views seriously and will forgo action on the legislation for the foreseeable future.”
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.