May 08, 2008

By By Susan Butler, N.Y.

The House has just officially passed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO IP) Act on a vote of 410 to 11.

The bill enhances protections and enforcement of IP rights, establishes an IP representative in the White House, and creates an IP enforcement division within the Department of Justice.

The official vote to suspend the rules and pass the bill garnered the support of 224 Democrats and 186 Republicans. Those who opposed the bill were four Democrats and seven Republicans.

Although the bill was passed on Tuesday without a quorum, it has taken an additional two days for an official quorum vote due to delay tactics used by most House Republicans to object to the way House Democrats have been handling a bill on the war in Iraq.

A Senate bill, although not identical to the PRO IP Act, is expected to be introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee sometime in the next two months.

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