LOS ANGELES, Oct 12 (AFP) - The United States announced Tuesday a tough global crackdown on film and musical piracy targeting counterfeiters and their customers in an assault modelled on the wars on drugs and terror.
US Attorney General John Ashcroft unveiled the aggressive new offensive on criminal piracy in Los Angeles, the home of Hollywood as well much of the US music industry.
Unveiling recommendations from a body set up by his Department of Justice to protect intellectual property rights, Ashcroft said he was planning legislative and regulatory assaults on music and film thieves.
"Intellectual property theft is a clear danger to our economy and the health, safety, and security of the American people," he said in prepared remarks to be read at a press conference here.
"With the recommendations put forward by the task force, the department is prepared to build the strongest, most aggressive legal assault against intellectual property crime in our nation's history," he said.
The Department of Justice's Task Force on Intellectual Property issued 55 pages of recommendations aimed at protecting the recording and cinema industry from an estimated 250 billion of dollars in annual piracy losses.
The report, compiled by a dozen top Justice Department officials over the past seven months, calls for a crackdown on all offenders from solo operators to international crime rings that are cost US businesses dearly.
Among the recommendations to be implemented are a proposal to charge and prosecute intellectual property crimes under federal laws as much as possible, in the same way the US government targets organised crime, fraud and illegal importation, such as drug trafficking.
The task force proposed a dozen changes to rules governing criminal enforcement of intellectual property law and also called for the opening of five new anti-piracy offices across the United States.
Intellectual property industries make up approximately six percent of the US gross domestic product, employ more than five million people, and contribute 626 billion to the US economy, Ashcroft said.
The growing value of intellectual property coupled with the ease and low cost of copyright infringement via means such as the Internet has significantly boosted the threat of intellectual property theft in recent years.
"Well-organized criminal enterprises have recently begun to increase the scale, scope, and sophistication of international theft and counterfeiting," the Department of Justice said in a statement.
"Given the simplicity of disseminating millions of copies of stolen software, music, video, and other products and programs around the globe with a single computer click, and given the inconsistent enforcement of existing laws worldwide, it is imperative that intellectual property rights be reaffirmed and vigorously protected," it added.