DOJ Nominee Grilled On IP, Internet Porn
Entertainment industry attorney Tom Perrelli, who is President Barack Obama's pick for associate attorney general, told the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing Tuesday that existing U.S. intellectual property laws "don't seem to be addressing the problem" of global counterfeiting and piracy and said he hopes the department will bring a renewed focus to the issue. Perrelli was most recently managing partner of Jenner & Block's Washington, D.C., office and co-chaired the firm's entertainment and new media practice. In that capacity, he represented record labels and movie studios in a variety of copyright court battles.
"This committee was the source of a bill that created a broader IP position through the administration," Perrelli pointed out. That legislation sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Arlen Specter became law in October. The measure toughened civil and criminal IP laws and provided new prosecutorial resources. It also created an IP enforcement coordinator within the White House -- a vacant position that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., urged the administration to fill.
During the hearing, Perrelli was also grilled by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., about legislation that he sponsored in the 110th Congress to expand the requirements for electronic service providers to report online child pornography and help to root out people selling, trading, or displaying illegal pornographic images of children. "We have to do everything we can to protect children from depictions that are going to be harmful to them," Perrelli said, pledging to work with the committee on child protection issues and help ensure that those who distribute unlawful Internet content are prosecuted.
Despite some GOP resistance, the panel is expected to approve his nomination, as well as that of Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan for solicitor general, after Presidents Day recess. Kagan, who also appeared before the panel, was asked about her thoughts on Knox v. United States, a child pornography case prosecuted under President George H.W. Bush that caused controversy in the Clinton administration when then-Solicitor General Drew Days reversed the government's position and refused to defend the conviction. Janet Reno, who ran DOJ at the time, overturned his position. "I do not want a solicitor general who will use that office to change the law through the courts," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said. "Neither the solicitor general nor courts make the law -- Congress does."
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