YNOT – A bill that would make internet streaming of pirated content a felony has exited the Senate Judiciary Committee and now faces a vote on the Senate floor. Current U.S. law criminalizes unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted material on physical media and via internet download, but the new bill is the first to address streaming content.

The Commercial Felony Streaming Act, S. 978, proposes steep fines and jail sentences of up to five years for those caught streaming 10 or more copyrighted works within a 180-day period. In order to qualify as illegal-to-stream content, the works must have a total combined retail value of $2,500 or be subject to combined license fees of more than $5,000.

The bipartisan bill, introduced in May by senators Amy Klobuchar [D-Minn.] and John Cornyn [R-Texas], intends to criminalize only willful, profit-producing copyright infringement. S. 978 is a response to a March report (PDF) from the Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. The report was sharply critical of an apparent gap in current law.

“To ensure that federal copyright law keeps pace with infringers, and to ensure that [the Department of Justice] and U.S. law enforcement agencies are able to effectively combat infringement involving new technology, the Administration recommends that Congress clarify that infringement by streaming, or by means of other similar new technology, is a felony in appropriate circumstances,” the report noted.

The Motion Picture Association of America, the National Association of Theatre Owners, the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Musicians and others in the film, television and music industries applaud the bill.

Unclear as yet is how the law will affect streaming sources outside the U.S. Although most western countries cooperate to combat online piracy, the U.S. and the UK currently are locking horns over the requested extradition of a British citizen who faces piracy charges in the U.S. Authorities accuse Richard O’Dwyer, the 23-year-old administrator of the now-defunct UK-based TVShack website, of massive infringement for allowing users of his site to stream pirated content hosted on other servers. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized O’Dwyer’s site more than one year ago.

Although O’Dwyer’s conduct may be considered unethical in the UK, it is not illegal. Authorities there claim the U.S. is displaying abject hubris and hypocrisy by attempting to enforce American laws on internet denizens in other countries.