Today, Victoria Espinel, the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (“IPEC”), released a White Paper on Intellectual Property Enforcement Legislative Recommendations. The following quotes may be attributed to Thomas Sydnor II, Fellow for Intellectual Property at the Association for Competitive Technology.
“This White Paper shows why President Obama chose wisely when he chose Ms. Victoria Espinel to be the nation’s first Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator. The White Paper presents a thoughtful, balanced list of proposed improvements to existing laws intended to enhance the enforceability of the existing intellectual property rights that have made America the world’s most successful net exporter of a vast array of expressive works, trusted brands, and important inventions.
“In particular, I would commend the IPEC for conducting a thorough and long-needed review of the extent to which we need to update our nation’s anti-counterfeiting laws in light of the rise in international trade and the increasing use of the Internet as a means to inject potentially dangerous counterfeit products into our public and private supply chains.
“In addition, the IPEC has also proposed useful improvements to our copyright laws. For example, the IPEC proposed that felony penalties for willful commercial copyright piracy should be available regardless of whether streaming or downloading technologies were used to commit the crime. This change would make existing laws more effective and more technology neutral.”