(Billboard) U.S. President George W. Bush signed into law on Monday a controversial bill that would stiffen penalties for movie and music piracy at the federal level.The law creates an intellectual property czar who will report directly to the president on how to better protect copyrights both domestically and internationally. The Justice Department had argued that the creation of this position would undermine its authority.
The law also toughens criminal laws against piracy and counterfeiting, although critics have argued that the measure goes too far and risks punishing people who have not infringed.
[We covered the history of this before and which congress members were bought with contributions to make this law, so we won't go over that again. But you can read more about the passing of this law over at - Billboard.biz]
