Intellectual property is a key driver of our economy. So it matters that we have the right approach to intellectual property enforcement; one that is thoughtful, dedicated and effective, and that makes good and efficient use of our resources.

Ours is a Nation of entrepreneurs, inventors, and artists. The ideas that American citizens generate catalyze cutting edge research, ensure longer and healthier lives, and power the globe’s most productive economy. Our ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit make the United States great, and we must fiercely defend that competitive advantage. As President Obama has said, “If the playing field is level, I promise you – America will always win.”

Since the first Joint Strategic Plan was released in 2010, the Administration has made tremendous progress in intellectual property enforcement. Coordination and efficiency of the Federal agencies has improved; U.S law enforcement has increased significantly and we have successfully worked with Congress to improve our legislation. We have increased our focus on trade secret theft and economic espionage that give foreign governments and companies an unfair competitive advantage by stealing our technology. We have pressed our trading partners to do more to improve enforcement of all types of intellectual property. We have encouraged the private sector to do more on a voluntary basis to make online infringement less profitable as a business, consistent with due process, free speech, privacy interests of users, competition law and protecting legitimate uses of the Internet.

Moving forward, we remain committed to protecting intellectual property and are building on the approach set out in the original Strategy. For example, we will continue to look for ways to make enforcement as coordinated and efficient as possible. We will look for ways to further increase transparency and outreach to a broad range of interests and views. We will continue to encourage companies to take voluntary steps to reduce the profit incentive from online infringement, consistent with due process, free speech, privacy interests and competition law, and we will also encourage rightholders to agree to a set of best practices to reduce infringement online.

We will review our domestic legislation to make sure it is effective and up-to-date. We will look for ways to use technology better to make enforcement more efficient and targeted. We want to discourage infringement and encourage those that are appropriately building on the works of others to create new works, so we will educate authors on how fair use works to allow creation of new works. We will increase support for small and medium sized companies that are seeking to expand into foreign markets. And we will begin collecting information on labor conditions in the manufacture and distribution of counterfeit and pirated goods overseas.

These are just some of the important initiatives that are set forth in the Joint Strategic Plan – for a complete list of all items in the 2013 strategy, see page 10.

I want to highlight two areas where we are looking for additional public input. First, we want to make sure that enforcement of patents at the border is as efficient and transparent possible so we are seeking views on how to improve that process. Also we want to know if the voluntary initiatives we have encouraged to reduce online infringement are working well and having a positive impact. So to that end, today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is asking the public for input on the best way to assess the effectiveness of voluntary initiatives. I encourage you to let us know your views. Public input is critical to ensure that we maintain the right approach moving forward.

I look forward to working with you to further enforce and protect American intellectual property rights. With continued leadership by the Administration and the support of Congress, the American people will continue to lead the world in innovation, and this innovation will continue to fuel our economy.

Learn more about today's release:

• The Administration’s 2013 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement

• Fact Sheet – Major Accomplishments since the 2010 Joint Strategic Plan

• Additional U.S. Government Blog Posts:

  • Office of the United States Trade Representative

  • Department of Commerce

  • Department of Homeland Security

  • Department of Justice

  • Department of State

  • U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

  • U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Victoria Espinel is the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator

As the President has made clear, “our single greatest asset is the innovation and ingenuity and creativity of the American people. It is essential to our prosperity and it will only become more so in this century.” So it matters that we have the right approach—one that is forceful yet thoughtful, dedicated and effective, and that makes good and efficient use of our resources. Therefore, who better to play a key part in shaping the new Strategy than you, the American people? You can do so by following this link to Regulations.gov where you will find more details for submitting your strategy recommendations beginning today.

I believe that essential to the development of an effective enforcement strategy, is ensuring that any approaches that are considered to be particularly effective as well as any concerns with the present approach to intellectual property enforcement are understood by policymakers. Recommendations may include, but need not be limited to: legislation, regulation, guidance, executive order, Presidential memoranda, or other executive action, including, but not limited to, changes to agency policies, practices or methods.

Beyond recommendations for government action as part of the next Strategy, we are looking for information on and recommendations for combating emerging or future threats to American innovation and economic competitiveness posed by violations of intellectual property rights. Additionally, it would be useful to the development of the Strategy to receive submissions from the public identifying threats to public health and safety posed by intellectual property infringement, in the U.S. and internationally as well as information relating to the costs to the U.S. economy resulting from infringement of intellectual property rights.

I am looking forward to hearing from you and working together as we develop the Administration’s next Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement.

Victoria Espinel is the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.

As President Obama has said, in order to win the future in the global economy America must out innovate our competitors. Intellectual property theft undermines our nation's innovators and entrepreneurs. The new campaign will educate the public about the full range of intellectual property crimes we confront, from counterfeit consumer goods and fake pharmaceuticals laced with potentially dangerous substances to illegal downloads, while highlighting the potential threat these crimes pose to economic prosperity and public safety. The campaign will include a television PSA, materials delivered through social media, and radio, web, and print ads. 

The Administration has been proactive on multiple fronts in order to increase intellectual property enforcement. We have increased law enforcement efficiency, advocated for legislative reform, informed the public about the negative impacts of intellectual property theft, and engaged the private sector to foster cooperation and create voluntary solutions through productive conversations. Today’s announcement marks an important milestone in the Administration’s ongoing efforts to curb intellectual property theft that harms the economy, undermines job creation, undermines innovation, and jeopardizes the health and safety of American consumers.  

At the event, Attorney General Holder and I were joined by Acting Deputy Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank, who discussed the ways in which counterfeit goods impact the everyday lives of American families. Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement John Morton was also in attendance to discuss ongoing Administration law enforcement efforts concerning counterfeit goods and intellectual property crimes. And Ann Harkins, National Crime Prevention Council President and CEO, was on hand to unveil the products of the campaign that will help build awareness about the harm caused by counterfeit goods and engage the public in stopping intellectual property theft. 

For more information about the campaign, visit: http://www.ncpc.org/getreal.

The joining of Internet service providers and entertainment companies in a cooperative effort to combat online infringement can further this goal and we commend them for reaching this agreement.  We believe it will have a significant impact on reducing online piracy.

We believe that this agreement is a positive step and consistent with our strategy of encouraging  voluntary efforts to strengthen online intellectual property enforcement and with our broader Internet policy principles, emphasizing privacy, free speech, competition and due process.

As such, we will follow the implementation and outcomes of this arrangement with great interest.  Our expectation is that the new organization created by it will have ongoing consultations with privacy and freedom of expression advocacy groups to assure that its practices are fully consistent with the democratic values that have helped the Internet to flourish.

Simultaneously, the Administration will continue to pursue comprehensive solutions to the problems associated with Internet piracy, including increased law enforcement and educational awareness.  To win the future and succeed in the global economy, it is critical to protect the intellectual property of America’s innovators and creators.

At the World Copyright Congress in Brussels, I spoke about the need to work with foreign governments and the private sector to stop criminals who attempt to evade intellectual property laws by operating overseas. In Brussels, I met with members of the European Commission and European Parliament, as well as American businesses. In London, I met with members of UK’s Parliament and the UK IP Crime Group, a group of enforcement agencies and industry groups which seek a collaborative approach to fighting intellectual property crime.

This collaborative approach, working with the private sector, is something that my office has been engaged in here in the U.S. Over the last several months, my office has been working closely with Internet Service Providers, advertisers, credit card companies, payment processors, search engines, domain name registrars and registries taking voluntary action against online piracy. These private-sector companies, as well as foreign governments, recognize that we all have a stake in maintaining a safe and secure global marketplace. I welcome their cooperation and will continue to engage with them as we fight worldwide counterfeiting together.

The theft of American innovation costs jobs and imperils economic growth.  This must end.  We have recommended legislative changes that will help us ensure that American workers and businesses are protected.  Among those changes, we are seeking significantly increased criminal penalties for those selling counterfeits to our military, when counterfeiting and piracy is funding organized criminal activity, for those selling products that can harm or kill American consumers and for those stealing American innovation and transferring it overseas.  We are also seeking changes to ensure that our laws can address technological changes, such as illegal streaming, and that law enforcement can share information effectively with businesses.  

Selling counterfeit products for use by the military or in national defense risks public safety and the safety of our service men and women.  Therefore, we  proposed today to significantly increase criminal penalties for those seeking to profit at the expense of our safety.  We are working intensely with the Department of Defense and NASA to ensure counterfeit goods are not entering the U.S. Government supply chain.  Yesterday, we hosted a White House meeting with DOJ, the FBI, DoD and others to discuss how to prevent procurement of counterfeit products across the Federal government.   We look forward to working closely with Senator Levin and Senator McCain as the Senate Armed Services Committee investigates this critical issue.

Because of the high profit margin and shorter prison sentence for intellectual property crimes compared to other offenses, piracy and counterfeiting are a strong lure to organized criminal enterprises, which can use infringement as a revenue source to fund their other unlawful activities.  One of the most brutal drug cartels in the world – Mexico-based La Familia -- manufacturers and sells counterfeit software, generating more than $2.4 million in profits each day.  The Administration has recommended increased penalties for intellectual property crimes committed by organized criminal enterprises and wiretap authority for copyright and trademark offenses, which will enhance efforts to fight organized crime and bring their leaders to justice.

In this White Paper, we are seeking six legislative changes to fight counterfeits drugs, including increased criminal penalties for counterfeit drug offenses, particularly those that risk death or serious bodily injury.  Many of you may have seen the 60 Minutes report this past Sunday on counterfeit drugs coming in the U.S.   We are aggressively going after this problem on multiple fronts, including by significantly increasing law enforcement efforts.  In fact, health and safety seizures are up 97% from last year.  And we are engaging with private sector companies on this issue as well-- like Google, GoDaddy, Mastercard and other leading Internet companies that are setting up a nonprofit to fight illegal online pharmacies.

I look forward to working with Congress in the months ahead to consider and pass these legislation recommendations.  As we continue to implement the Joint Strategic Plan, we will likely make additional legislative recommendations in the coming months.  It is critical that we work together to make sure that we are doing all we can to combat these crimes.

So that you know the full extent of what we have proposed, I have simultaneously made our legislative proposals available on our website:  http://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/omb/intellectualproperty/. 

I have also summarized below the specific proposals:

First, we recommend increasing the maximum sentence for the following offenses:

• Increase the maximum sentence for economic espionage (18 U.S.C. § 1831) from 15 years in prison to at least 20 years in prison; and
• Increase the maximum sentence for drug offenses under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), particularly for counterfeit drug offenses.

Second, we recommend that Congress: (1) direct the U.S. Sentencing Commission to increase the U.S. Sentencing Guideline range for intellectual property offenses; (2) require the Sentencing Commission to consider five specific categories of changes to the Guidelines; and (3) require the Sentencing Commission to act within 180 days of such legislation being adopted (including issuing a report explaining why it has not adopted any of the specific recommendations).  The five categories of recommendations are:

• Increase the Guideline range for the theft of trade secrets and economic espionage, including trade secrets transferred or attempted to be transferred outside of the U.S.;
• Increase the Guideline range when infringing products are knowingly sold for use in national defense, national security, critical infrastructure, or by law enforcement.
• Increase the Guideline range for intellectual property offenses committed by organized criminal enterprises/gangs;
• Increase the Guideline range for intellectual property offenses that risk death or serious bodily injury and for those offense involving counterfeit drugs (even when those offenses do not present that risk); and
• Increase the Guideline range for repeat intellectual property offenders.

Third, we recommend the following legislative changes to give enforcement agencies the tools they need to combat infringement:

• Ensure that, in appropriate circumstances, infringement by streaming, or by means of other similar new technology, is a felony;
• Authorize DHS (including its component CBP) to share pre-seizure information about, and samples of, products and devices with rightholders to help DHS to determine whether the products are infringing or the devices are circumvention devices; and
• Give law enforcement wiretap authority for criminal copyright and trademark offenses.

Fourth, we recommend the following legislative changes to allow DHS to share information about enforcement activities with rightholders:

• Give DHS authority to notify rightholders that infringing goods have been excluded or seized pursuant to an ITC order; and
• Give DHS authority to share information about, and samples of, circumvention devices with rightholders post-seizure.

Fifth, we recommend the following legislative changes to improve U.S. efforts to fight illegal drugs, particularly counterfeit drugs:

• Require importers and manufacturers to notify the FDA and other relevant agencies when they discover counterfeit drugs, including the known potential health risks;
• Extend the Ryan Haight Act’s definition of “valid prescription” (and its telemedicine exemption) to the FFDCA to drugs that do not contain controlled substances;
• Adopt a track-and-trace system for pharmaceuticals and related products;
• Provide civil and criminal forfeiture under the FFDCA, particularly for counterfeit drug offenses;
• As noted above, increase the statutory maximum for drug offenses under the FFDCA, particularly for counterfeit drug offenses; and
• As noted above, recommend that the U.S. Sentencing Commission increase the Guideline range for intellectual property offenses that risk death and serious bodily injury, and for those offenses involving counterfeit drugs (even when those offenses do not present that risk).

Sixth, we recommend the following legislative changes to CBP’s administrative penalties:

• Permit relief when someone who unknowingly and unintentionally acquires infringing products voluntarily discloses them to CBP before becoming aware of any CBP enforcement action (or a law enforcement investigation);
• Give CBP authority to issue penalties for infringing exports; and
• Strengthen CBP’s authority to issue penalties for infringing imports discovered during audits of company records.

Finally, we recommend creating a right of public performance for copyright owners for sound recordings transmitted by over-the-air broadcast stations which, in part, will allow copyright owners to obtain overseas royalties that are now denied to them.

Victoria Espinel is the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator

In his State of the Union address, the President emphasized that to remain competitive in today’s world economy, to create jobs and new business opportunities, we need to unleash the creative spirit of the American people, the same spirit that has made us the most prosperous nation in the world.  In his weekly address on January 29, 2011, the President reiterated that “America will win the future by out-innovating, out educating and out building our competitors.”  At a meeting at the White House on January 28, 2011, flanked by Cabinet members, other senior Administration officials, and the CEOs of several of our top companies, Vice President Biden echoed the President’s remarks, further noting that we must also work hard to protect our intellectual property to ensure that the “innovative ideas and creative products reach their full potential without being stolen, co-opted or, quite frankly, compromised.” 

To ensure that the Administration does its best to protect these innovations and creative products, today  the President issued this Executive Order, which establishes a Cabinet level Senior Intellectual Property Enforcement Advisory Committee comprised of the heads of the Departments responsible for intellectual property enforcement, including the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Agriculture and USTR.  The Executive Order also establishes the Intellectual Property Enforcement Advisory Committee comprised of representatives from the agencies responsible for designing and carrying out the Administration’s strategy for stopping intellectual property theft. 

The committees established by this Executive Order will encourage innovation by focusing and intensifying the Administration’s efforts to combat intellectual property theft in the United States and abroad.  Confident that their innovations and creativity will be protected, our intellectual property industries will continue to develop countless ground-breaking products while creating new sustainable jobs and contributing even more to our economic well being.

Victoria Espinel is the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.

A little over a year ago, I was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the first U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.  A little over six months ago, I submitted to Congress the inaugural Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement (Strategy), which was developed as a result of significant public input (including more than 1,600 public comments) and the coordinated efforts of the Federal agencies that enforce intellectual property rights.  It included 33 specific actions that we committed to undertake to improve intellectual property enforcement.

In the little more than six months since we issued that Strategy in June, the U.S. Government has been hard at work taking the steps we identified to improve intellectual property enforcement.  Today, I have sent to Congress the first annual report outlining what we have done to implement the Strategy (pdf).  Some of the significant activities that I want to highlight for you are:

• Voluntary Private Sector Action:  As a result of our efforts to work with those who make the Internet function effectively and efficiently, on Dec. 14, 2010 -- at a White House Health and Safety Forum -- I announced that American Express, eNom, GoDaddy, Google, MasterCard, Microsoft, PayPal, Neustar, Visa, and Yahoo! agreed to form a nonprofit organization with other private sector participants to educate consumers, share information, and take voluntary enforcement action against illegal online pharmacies. By preventing criminal actors from gaining access to consumers and attaining legitimacy through the use of online payment processors, the purchase of ad space or a registered domain name, these private companies can play a critical role in combating illegal online pharmacies that put American consumers at risk.
• Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement:  In November, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative concluded the negotiations of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) with 38 countries, representing over 50% of global trade.  ACTA is the first international agreement entirely focused on intellectual property enforcement.
• Increased Law Enforcement Action
  • In June and July, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had two of the largest counterfeit good cases in U.S. history, each involving $100 million of counterfeit goods.
  • DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have focused on major trade secret cases, including two cases in which the harm from the theft exceeded $40 million (to Ford and GM).
  • In June, ICE HSI and DOJ launched “Operation In Our Sites,” cracking down on websites distributing counterfeit goods and pirated movies.  Thus far, the Operation has seized more than 90 domain names for websites used to sell infringing products and resulted in 30 million visitors seeing banners alerting them that the domain names had been seized.
  • DOJ, the FBI, and ICE HSI have continued prosecuting defendants under Operation Network Raider, which targeted the sale of counterfeit computer network hardware, including to the U.S. military.  That Operation has led to more than 30 convictions and the seizure of more $143 million in counterfeit goods.
  • Since June, the U.S. has led and participated in three global law enforcement sweeps, each involving more than 30 countries, with two targeting counterfeit drugs and one resulting in nearly 300 websites used to sell counterfeit drugs being taken down.
  • From Fiscal Year 2009 to 2010, the number of ICE HSI intellectual property investigations opened is up more than 41%, arrests are up more than 37%, and criminal charges are up more than 86%.  ICE and CBP intellectual property seizures are up more than 34%.  The number of FBI intellectual property investigations opened is up more than 44%.
• Technology Neutral Procurement: On Jan. 7, 2011, the U.S. Chief Information Officer, the Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy and I issued a statement to federal procurement officials reminding them of the Administration’s policy to be technology neutral in procurement and that all technology must be properly licensed.

I was proud to report to Congress the good work that those of us in the U.S. Government are doing to fight infringement.  But we have much more to do and we will keep working.  Please keep sending us your thoughts, concerns, and recommendations.

Victoria Espinel is the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator

• Read our full statement: "Technology Neutrality." (pdf)

However, our ability to increase exports depends on Americans being able to compete overseas without facing discriminatory policies, burdensome legal regimes or unfair practices.  We want to make sure export opportunities are there and support our businesses as they are entering overseas markets.

One of the challenges our businesses face today are markets where their innovation and intellectual property rights need better protection and enforcement or where they have to navigate overly complex and sometimes unfair legal regimes. Our export markets need to be fair, open and accessible—unpolluted by counterfeit goods—and free of discriminatory policies that can disadvantage our intellectual property industries.

Working effectively with our trading partners is critical to improved enforcement and open markets. I've just returned from a trip to Brussels to discuss ways we can work with the European government to resolve concerns in overseas markets. And John Morton, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is traveling to Europe this week to push the international law enforcement community to increase the number of global cross-border law enforcement cases.

You can help too.  We are asking the public, including all our exporters and potential exporters, for their views on the challenges they face in protecting their innovation and creative works or in enforcing their rights, how well what we are doing now to support our businesses works and, most of all, ideas on what we can do better. The Department of Commerce has issued a public call for input:, read the guidelines (pdf) and submit your feedback via Regulations.gov, docket number ITA–2010–0006. 

We encourage you to read it and send us your ideas. 

I am pleased to announce that today we unveiled the Administration’s first Joint Strategic Plan to combat intellectual property theft. 

The U.S. economy leads the world in innovation and creativity thanks to American inventors, artists and workers.  Our ability to develop new technology, designs and artistic works supports jobs and allows us to export great new products and services around the world. Our citizens need to feel confident that they can invest in new innovation and intellectual property, knowing it will be safe from theft.  Ensuring that our ideas and ingenuity are protected helps us create jobs and increase our exports. 

Now, more than ever, we need to protect the ideas, artistry, and our reputation for quality, provide our businesses with the incentives to make each new product better, reduce crimes related to intellectual property infringement and keep dangerous counterfeits out of our supply chain to protect our citizens.  Strong intellectual property enforcement will help us to accomplish that.  The Obama Administration has always embraced the free flow of information, online collaboration, and fair use by average citizens, which are also helping to advance our society and economy every day -- this strategy does not target legitimate and legal activity.  The Administration is technology-neutral, using both proprietary and open source platforms on the web and all content on WhiteHouse.gov is public domain, making it an active participant in the online communities of the 21st Century.

• Read the strategy.

This office was established to coordinate the efforts of the different parts of the government that work hard to stop intellectual property theft.  Equally important, your government also wants to make sure that the products you buy are safe.  Those principles form the backbone of the strategy for combating infringement. To develop the strategy, we worked closely with agencies across the government that are responsible for fighting infringement.  We also incorporated some of the great ideas you submitted to us in response to our request for comments.

The strategy contains more than thirty concrete recommendations for improvement, falling into six main categories.  First, we will lead by example.  Specifically, we will work to ensure that we do not mistakenly purchase or use illegal products.  Second, the strategy underscores that this Administration supports transparency.  That includes transparency in our development of enforcement policy, information sharing, and reporting of law enforcement activities at home and abroad.  Third, we will improve coordination and thereby increase efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement efforts at the Federal, state and local level, of personnel stationed overseas and of our international training efforts.  Fourth, we will work with our trading partners and within international organizations to better enforce American intellectual property rights in the global economy.  In that regard, we will initiate a comprehensive review of current efforts in support of U.S. businesses that have difficulty enforcing their intellectual property rights in overseas markets, with a particular focus on China.  Fifth, we must secure our supply chain.  To achieve this most important goal, we will take a close look at the unique problems posed by foreign-based websites and other entities that provide access to counterfeit or pirated products, and develop a coordinated and comprehensive plan to address them.  We will make sure our law enforcement has the authority it needs to secure the supply chain and also encourage industry to work collaboratively to address unlawful activity on the internet, such as illegal downloading and illegal internet pharmacies.  Sixth, and finally, we will make sure we spend your money wisely, a process we have already begun.  To do that, we have, and will continue to collect and track the amount of money we spend on intellectual property enforcement per year.  We will use this information to map out the most effective way to fight this theft.

The American economy is driven by the innovation and creativity of its people.  We need to protect the ideas and artistry that has made us so successful.  We need to make sure we protect our citizens from the risks to public health and safety posed by criminal activity and by dangerous counterfeits.  This strategy is the coordinated effort of your government to protect consumers and our economy from these real threats.  I am confident that this strategy will be a significant step in that direction.  I encourage you to read the strategy we submitted to Congress today.  If you do, I hope that you will agree that we are headed along the right path. 

Victoria Espinel is the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator

Victoria Espinel is the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator

While talking about our global competitive advantage at a recent town hall meeting in Ohio, the President said, “One of the problems that we have had is insufficient protection for intellectual property rights”–and it is important that our ideas are protected.  In December 2009, the Vice President, joined by Cabinet members and other senior government officials, held a roundtable discussion to emphasize the Administration’s commitment to enforcing laws against intellectual property theft.

Intellectual property are the ideas behind inventions, the artistry that goes into books and music, and the logos of companies whose brands we have come to trust.   My job is to help protect the ideas and creativity of the American public.  One of the reasons that I care about this is because I believe it is enormously important that the United States remain a global leader in these forms of innovation – and part of how we do that is by appropriately protecting our intellectual property.  Our intellectual property represents the hard work, creativity, resourcefulness, investment and ingenuity of the American public.  Infringement of intellectual property can hurt our economy and can undermine U.S. jobs.  Infringement also reduces our markets overseas and hurts our ability to export our products.  Counterfeit products can pose a significant threat to the health and safety of us all.  Imagine learning that the toothpaste you and your family have used for years contains a dangerous chemical.  U.S. Customs officials have seized several shipments of counterfeit toothpaste containing a dangerous amount of diethylene glycol, a chemical used in brake fluid, and that in sufficient doses is believed to cause kidney failure.  All of these are reasons why your government has renewed its efforts to challenge this illegal activity.

My job is to help coordinate the work of the federal agencies that are involved with stopping this illegal behavior.  We are going to work together to develop a strategy to reduce those risks to the public, the costs to our economy and to help protect the ingenuity and creativity of Americans.  We want to be able to reduce the number of infringing goods in the United States and abroad.  The examples are almost endless: counterfeit car parts, illegal software, pirated video games, knockoff consumer goods, dangerous counterfeit medicines, and many other types of products – including very sophisticated technology.  Our goal is to better use taxpayer dollars and other government resources to be more effective in reducing any threat to our economy and our safety.  

To further these goals, we are working to find ways of measuring these threats and their impact on us.  How many jobs depend on the existence of intellectual property?  What are the greatest risks to health and safety?  We need better data on these questions and it is part of my job to figure out what the answers are.  We cannot do that without your help.  So, my office is asking the public to give us information about the costs and the risks – and then give us suggestions for what we could be doing better as a government.   As a first step, we are issuing a notice to the public asking for your input.  Here’s a link to this request (pdf).  You can send your comments to intellectualproperty@omb.eop.gov.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Victoria Espinel is the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator