[This post was authored by Google Policy Fellow Liz Allen]

Earlier this summer, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced a bill called the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Threat of Intellectual Property Act (or “PROTECT IP” Act). The bill is basically a reincarnation of the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) that Leahy introduced in 2010. COICA failed to pass into law before Congress’s previous session ended. (For FMC’s take on that version of the bill, check out our earlier posts here and here.)

PROTECT IP may have a snappier name, but it’s fairly similar to its predecessor legislation. If enacted into law, it would give the US Attorney General new tools to combat online intellectual property infringement committed by websites both in the US and abroad. Also, it would give individual IP rightholders more limited ways to enforce their rights online against websites based in the US. To learn more about the content of the bill and FMC’s take on its provisions, check out our PROTECT IP Fact Sheet.