The White House has released its 2013 strategic plan for intellectual property enforcement. The document is 35 pages long and outlines progress that’s been made since 2010 and goals moving forward. Included in the report is a letter to the President and Congress from Victoria A. Espinel, U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, who summaries the findings and outlines progress made since the last report in 2010 which includes:
• U.S. law enforcement has significantly increased its enforcement against infringement that threatens the vitality of the U.S. economy and the health and safety of the American people. Since FY 2009
- − U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) new cases are up 71 percent, arrests are up 159 percent, convictions are up 103 percent, and indictments are up 264 percent.
- − Pending Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) health and safety-focused investigations are up 308 percent, FBI health and safety arrests are up 286 percent, and new trade secret theft cases are up 39 percent.
- − Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and ICE seizures of infringing imports have increased
- by 53 percent.
• Private sector companies have voluntarily agreed to adopt best practices aimed at curbing the
sale of counterfeit goods and reducing online piracy. For example:
- − American Express, Discover, eNom, Facebook, Go Daddy, Google, MasterCard, Microsoft, Neustar, PayPal, Visa, and Yahoo! established the Center for Safe Internet Pharmacies—a new non-profit to combat fake online “pharmacies” selling dangerous illegal drugs over the Internet.
- − AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and major and independent music labels and movie studios entered into a voluntary agreement to reduce online piracy. Under the agreement, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will notify subscribers, through a series of alerts,when their Internet service accounts appear to be misused for infringement on peer-to-peer networks.− American Express, Discover, MasterCard, PayPal, and Visa agreed to a set of best practices to withdraw payment services for online sales of counterfeit and pirated goods.
- − The Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies issued a leadership pledge to not support online piracy and counterfeiting with advertising revenue.
I’m particularly interested in reviewing what said about the efficacy of the private sector’s “voluntary…best practices” approach to see what progress has been made, and whether it jibes with what’s really happening online with regard to piracy, counterfeiting, etc. I’ll more on my thoughts once I’ve had the opportunity to review the entire report.