http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44361-2005Mar17.html

Hatch to Head Senate Panel on Copyright

By David McGuire
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Thursday, March 17, 2005; 5:15 PM

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), one of the entertainment industry's most
powerful congressional allies, will remain at the forefront of the
national debate over copyright and illegal downloading after being
named to head a new subcommittee on intellectual property.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today
officially christened the panel, which will have jurisdiction over
copyright, trademark and patent law, as well as treaties intended to
protect American intellectual property overseas.

The mounting dangers that piracy poses to the U.S. economy helped spur
the move, Specter said after the announcement. "It's a big, tough
subject. We lose billions each year. We have a national treasure named
Orrin Hatch who is happy to take over the subcommittee, and I was
happy to establish it," Specter said.

Given the full slate of non-copyright issues before the full Judiciary
Committee, the new panel will help keep intellectual property issues
on the front burner, said Mitch Glazier, the Recording Industry
Association of America's senior vice president of government and
industry relations.

"Any time you have a subcommittee whose job it is to focus on your
issues, that's a positive," Glazier said.

Hatch, who chaired the Judiciary Committee until term limits forced
him to turn in his gavel at the end of last year's session, has been
one of the most vocal proponents of expanding copyright protections in
cyberspace in a bid to contain unlicensed downloading. That often put
him and colleague Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) -- the committee's top
Democrat -- at odds with technology companies and consumer advocates,
who complained that the lawmakers' efforts to protect entertainment
companies too often suppressed technological innovation and infringed
consumer rights.

Last year, Hatch and Leahy authored a controversial bill targeting
peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa, Morpheus and eDonkey that allow
users to swap copyrighted content for free. Music and movie industry
lobbyists threw their weight behind the bill, but opponents said it
was worded too broadly and would also undermine legal protections for
popular devices like the iPod music player and TiVo television
recorder.

Talks on the bill collapsed shortly before the November election after
a coalition of high-tech companies, consumer advocates and
conservatives formed to oppose it. Reintroducing the bill will not be
on the new subcommittee's "immediate agenda," Hatch spokesman Adam
Elggren said.

"We've all been a little bit surprised by how willing they've been to
carry the content industry's water," Public Knowledge President Gigi
Sohn said of Hatch and Leahy. She said, however, that the formation of
the subcommittee wasn't a surprise, and would probably be a "wash" for
groups like hers that oppose many of the copyright measures backed by
the entertainment industry.

Those groups had hoped Specter's ascension would bring a shift in a
battle they say has been stacked against them. But, Sohn added, there
was never any doubt that Hatch would continue to be a major player in
the debate, subcommittee or no.

"If you thought Hatch was going to ride off into the sunset and not
participate in this issue," Sohn said, "you're not in touch with
reality."

In addition to piracy and copyright infringement, Leahy hopes to work
through the committee to address the new threats of "phishing" and
"pharming" -- forms of electronic fraud in which perpetrators
impersonate trusted banks, retailers and financial institutions to
steal Internet users' personal data, spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said.

In a statement, Hatch declared that the panel would have an
"aggressive agenda" and highlighted the issue of patent reform,
saying, "We need strong patent protection to give incentives for
innovation and economic growth."

Down the Hatch!

"We need strong patent protection to give incentives for
innovation and economic growth."

If a goal is incentives for innovation, then extending copyright privileges practically all the way to perpetuity....and crippling the concept of file-sharing like the RIAA is doing would be going down the wrong path, would it not?
That's why these ignominious legislators like Hatch, Leahy, and Specter can't be trusted for anything other than promoting the larger mission of globalism while being on the take from corporate contributors who don't mind relegating common consumers like us down the river.

Wow, another subcomittee with a corrupt senator leading it. The Aviator anyone?

So much for H.R. 1201 =(

That guy will have to be killed, either by a merciful god or a vengeful tech buff, before the DMCA is reformed and fair use is returned to the people.

Amazing how the terrible effects of this law are so utterly blatant, yet they continue to let it sit there and cause damage like a ton of enriched uranium in the middle of times square.

"Given the full slate of non-copyright issues before the full Judiciary
Committee, the new panel will help keep intellectual property issues
on the front burner"

in other words.. BURY THE CRAP OUT OF ANY ATTEMPTS AT COPYRIGHT REFORM BY POWERFUL NEW PRO PUBLIC LOBBYING GROUPS...

OMG! and leahy is going to target Phishing and pharming!

WE can look forward to more inanane and useless legislation on that front too..

After all, theyre too damned arrogant to actually convene a competent think tank to truly and impartially addresse these issues.

Ok, this is off topic but since the teaser called Hatch the poster child for trem limits I just though I'd point out that he doesn't even make the top 3 among currently sitting Senators for years in office. Top 3 are:

Robert Byrd (D WV, 46 Years)
Edward "Ted" Kennedy (D MA, 42 Years)
Daniel Inouye (D HI, 42 Years)

Although in my opinion after 12 years living and working in DC you have probably been there long enough to lose touch with reality, the copyright legislation going through is just another example of that.

"national debate over copyright and illegal downloading"

It's a national debate and yet none of them have a damn clue as to what it is they're supposed to be debating.

Including the Washington Post.

The headline should read: "Fox hired to guard the chicken-coop."

This is very bad news.

Remember he's a songwriter as well. He has a vested interest in the debate. In 2004 he made approx $34,000 in royalties, and in 2003 he made approx. 18,000. He not likely to be open to hearing the other side of the story.

Whatever happened to REAL term limits?!?!?!?

Sickening.

Hatcgh is an idiot.

I dealt with him 20 years ago. He was a sellout for his own interests then, and hasn't changed.

Whadya call a turd with a gavel in a suit sitting in congress?
Yep....Orrin Hatch.

Hatch...not Hatcgh...damn big fingers on tiny keys!

wait a second.. i thought jacula was the vampire.

hatch is something else.. i think a gorilla perhaps. That about sums up his policy approach: "fling as much blunt force as possible in the general direction of your foe, and hope it's destroyed with whatever essential structures of society happen to be around there."

Hatch is a metaphorical version of The Incredible Hulk, and not the best version either.