Joe Biden has strong anti-piracy record

Senator named Barack Obama's running mate Saturday

NEW YORK -- Joe Biden may have made his name in foreign relations in 32 years in the Senate, but his efforts against piracy have won him respect in Hollywood.

Biden was named Saturday as Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's running mate. The Delaware senator has got a long list of credentials, including chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, membership on the Senate Judiciary Committee and experience on the world stage lacking in the top of the ticket. But the 64-year-old Scranton, Pa., native has been a strong advocate for U.S. intellectual property rights and an ardent soldier in the fight against piracy.

As a founding member of the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus, Biden has helped the lead the fight against countries such as China, Russia, Mexico and India that need stronger copyright protections.

"When somebody holds you up on the street and takes your wallet, we call it robbery," Biden said in May 2007. "And when somebody steals your idea and creation, we call it theft, plain and simple." The MPA has lauded the work of the anti-piracy caucus as being essential to motivating the government to action.

Biden has run for the Democratic nomination for president twice, once in the 1980s that ended after he was accused of lifting a British politician's speeches, and then for this year's nomination. He was unable to gain the same amount of financial and star power support that some of his rivals, including his new running mate, were able to achieve. Biden's presidential campaign received only $114,342 this election cycle from the entertainment industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That's 12th in a field of 20.

Quick on his feet and eminently quotable, Biden is remembered among other things during thecampaign for his dismissal of the candidacy of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani during a campaign for his dismissal of the candidacy of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani during a debate in Philadelphia in October.

"There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, a verb and 9/11," Biden said.