To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide for the holding of Federal district court in Plattsburgh, New York, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3632, as amended, today by the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary.

As amended, H.R. 3632 is a combination of several bills reported by the Committee on the Judiciary after full consideration. I believe this amalgam of bills is largely noncontroversial and thus ask my colleagues to join me in supporting its passage.

Title I is designed to deter counterfeiting of U.S. copyrighted works. Such counterfeiting is an enormous and growing problem. It costs U.S. software companies alone approximately $11 billion a year and, as a result, costs the U.S. economy thousands of high-tech jobs in the software industry. The impact on other American copyright holders is equally devastating.

Recent events have underscored the scope of the counterfeiting problem as well as the need for title I of this bill. Just last week, a Los Angeles grand jury indicted 11 individuals for conspiring to distribute more than $30 million of counterfeit software. The counterfeiting ring possessed 15,929 genuine stand-alone certificates of authenticity. Those known as COAs are authentication features, like holograms, used to distinguish genuine goods.

Because many COAs are difficult to convincingly reproduce, counterfeiters have become an eager and lucrative market for misappropriated, genuine COAs. And, in fact, the COAs seized last week have an estimated retail value of approximately $1.7 million.

While current law prohibits trafficking in counterfeit software and fake COAs, it provides no sanction against the traffic in genuine COAs. Thus the counterfeiting ring busted last week will escape liability for the almost 20,000 genuine COAs they misappropriated.

Title I remedies this situation. It expands the current prohibitions on trafficking and labels to include genuine labeling components, such as certificates of authenticity.

Title II of the bill before us contains the provisions of H.R. 3754, a largely uncontroversial bill reported out by the Committee on the Judiciary on a voice vote in June of this year. Title II is designed to improve the accuracy and completeness of the Whois database by providing additional civil and criminal remedies for domain name fraud.

The Whois database contains the names, street and e-mail addresses and other contact information of domain name registrants. While all domain name registrants are required to submit information for the Whois database, there are no processes to ensure that this information is either accurate or complete. Inaccurate Whois data hampers law enforcement investigations, facilitates consumer fraud, impairs copyright and trademark protection, imperils computer security, enables identity theft and weakens privacy protection efforts.

Title II seeks to rectify this growing problem through narrow amendments to current law. Title II provides a rebuttable presumption of willfulness with regard to a civil trademark or copyright infringement, if in connection with the infringement the infringer registers a domain name with materially false contact information. Additionally, the bill increases the maximum possible imprisonment for a Federal felony offense when the offender knowingly provided materially false domain name contact information in connection with the offense.

Title III contains the text of H.R. 112 and H.R. 4646, two minor and entirely non-controversial bills previously reported by the Committee on the Judiciary. Section 301 adds Colorado Springs as a place of holding court in the District of Colorado. Section 302 adds Plattsburgh as a place of holding court in the Northern District of New York. Both changes were requested by their respective Congressional delegations and have been supported by the administrative office of the U.S. courts.

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin, the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, product names are a key part of the American economy, not only to boost sales of a product, but also to assure that consumers have some assurances about the identity of the manufacturer of the product they are interested in buying.

Counterfeiting, the effort to deceive consumers into buying lower quality goods instead of the high quality goods they want, is now a real problem for high-tech companies.

For many years, software publishers have attempted to thwart counterfeiting activity by developing physical authentication components, called COAs, that help consumers and law enforcement agencies distinguish between genuine software and sophisticated counterfeits.

Counterfeits are now combining pirated CD-ROMs and packaging with genuine components obtained through theft or fraud. Multiplied by millions of transactions, the result to legitimate businesses is lost jobs, lost profits and lost tax revenue on a scale that compromises the health of otherwise vibrant industries.

Last week, a Federal indictment charged 11 people with conspiring to distribute more than $56 million in counterfeit software and products. However, due to a loophole in existing laws, charges could not be brought concerning over 20,000 illicit COAs that were seized.

Until H.R. 3632 is enacted, Federal law does not prohibit trafficking in genuine physical authentication components. Prosecutors find it impossible to take any legal action in such situations. As a result, this activity has become a highly profitable and largely risk-free elicit business.

The legislation will close this loophole and empower Federal authorities to prosecute counterfeiting activity on a greater scale with better results. Americans will be better protected from those who attempt to deceive them into spending their money on counterfeit products.

The text of H.R. 3754, the Fraudulent Online Identity Sanctions Act, has also been included in the underlying legislation. The Fraudulent Online Identity Sanctions Act assures those that use false identities in conjunction with a domain name face additional penalties for other crimes they commit.

To ensure that online anonymity is protected, the mere act of using an alias online is not penalized. A savings clause assures that first amendment rights are not impacted by the legislation. This legislation, though, will ensure that those who deceive others as they commit crimes online are, in fact, subject to additional criminal penalties for such deceit.

Two Federal Court bills also have been added to the underlying legislation, H.R. 112 and H.R. 4646. These bills create new places of holding U.S. Federal District Court in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and in Plattsburgh, New York. Americans seeking their constitutional right to be heard in Federal Court will find it easier to do so once this legislation is enacted.

H.R. 112 is cosponsored by both Republican and Democratic members of the Colorado delegation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3632) to prevent and punish counterfeiting of copyrighted copies and phonorecords, and for other purposes, as amended.

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 H.R. 3632, the bill currently under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation addresses a growing problem facing our Nation's creative community. Efforts to ensure that consumers are able to know whether they are buying legitimate software, music, movies, or other forms of intellectual property are being subverted by those who counterfeit authentication labels and steal legitimate ones. These counterfeited and illicit labels are then attached to counterfeit products defrauding consumers into thinking they have purchased a legitimate copy of the product when they have not.

The committee has been made aware of numerous efforts by organized groups to counterfeit authentication labels and to traffic in illicit ones. The activity is highly profitable and less likely to lead to arrest than for dealing in drugs; and until this legislation is signed into law, subject to a loophole in the existing law that allows those who traffic in such labels to face no criminal penalties. The middleman who traffics in illicit and counterfeit labels can walk away from his crime with no penalties. The bill would close this loophole and ensure that everyone who undertakes a scheme to defraud consumers faces criminal penalties.

Because of the short time remaining in this session, H.R. 3632 also incorporates the text of three other noncontroversial bills, H.R. 3754, H.R. 112, and H.R. 4646, in the manager's amendment. H.R. 3754 provides for additional penalties for those who use false domain name contact information to commit crimes. As Internet-based crimes continue to increase in number, updated laws are needed to stop this growth. H.R. 112 and H.R. 4646 provide for a new place of holding Federal district court in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Plattsburgh, New York, respectively.

H.R. 112 is cosponsored by both Republican and Democratic members of the Colorado delegation. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts have stated they support enactment of the bill. H.R. 4646 is similarly supported by the U.S. Judicial Conference and the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.