IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT NEWS: Senators introduce bipartisan bill to combat foreign piracy of creative works, (Jul 31, 2025)
“The Block BEARD Act would empower copyright owners to seek U.S. federal court orders against foreign websites dedicated to digital piracy, preventing them from making stolen content accessible to American households.”
Bipartisan lawmakers in the Senate have introduced a bill, the “Block Bad Electronic Art and Recording Distributors Act of 2025,’’ or the ‘‘Block BEARD Act of 2025’’ (Block BEARD Act), with the goal of stopping foreign online websites, that have been found to be stealing creative, copywritten content, from making that stolen content available to users in the United States. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Chris Coons (D-DE), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced the bipartisan bill on July 30.
If the Block BEARD Act becomes law, copyright owners who have had their work stolen would be able to appeal to U.S. federal courts to have the courts designate a foreign online website as a “digital foreign piracy site.” Then, courts could direct internet service providers to block access to the identified sites, while granting those internet service providers immunity from liability. To obtain relief, the copyright holders would need to present evidence of specific harm and demonstrate the criminal nature of the targeted site. According to a press release issued by the office of Senator Tillis, the legislation resembles “…successful approaches used in over 50 democratic countries to curb foreign piracy operations that undermine creative industry jobs and expose users to malware, identity theft, and fraud.”
The court would be allowed to issue to order under the introduced legislation if certain conditions are met. First, the foreign website in question must be found to (1) have been created mainly to infringe on copyrights, (2) to not have another significant business purpose besides infringement, and (3) be promoted in a way that encourages people to use it for infringing content. Also, petitioners appealing to federal courts would need to be found to own the rights or have an exclusive license to the content, and found to have:
Experienced harm (or will experience harm) by the infringing material or activity on the foreign website that violates a protected right under 17 U.S.C. §§ 501-513.
Made a reasonable effort to contact the website operator to give notice of the legal action.
Conducted a reasonable investigation and not found evidence that the website operator is actually based in the United States.
The foreign website operator would have 21 days to respond after the petition is filed. Also, according to the introduced legislation, an order would not be issued to designate the site as a “foreign digital piracy site” if the foreign site complies with the requirements of the court.
“Foreign websites pirating American movies, TV shows, art, and books steal tens of billions of dollars from the U.S. economy each year…Today, the United States takes an important step to join the many other nations around the world that have taken steps to crack down on foreign IP theft. This bipartisan legislation will give Americans the tools they need to protect their intellectual property rights,” Senator Coons stated.
Senator Blackburn said, “Foreign piracy operations jeopardize the American creative industry through phishing, identity theft, and financial fraud, and the Block BEARD Act would protect creators by enabling them to pursue legal action in U.S. federal courts against these criminals."
News: Copyright TechnologyInternet GCNNews