infoJustice

Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IP Czar) Victoria Espinel has published the 2011 Annual Report on Intellectual Property Enforcement.  The report describes enforcement activities by the Departments of Commerce, Homeland Security, Justice, State, and Health and Human Services, as well as the Copyright office and the U.S. Trade Representative.  It includes statistics on seizures and prosecutions, and discusses enforcement efforts both domestically and overseas.

Regarding legislation to fight piracy online, the report cites to the administration’s earlier response to We the People Petitions on SOPA/PIPA. It reiterates the White House position that “the Administration will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk (including authority to tamper with the DNS system), or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet.”

Much of the report focuses on efforts to enhance IP enforcement overseas.  A subsection on the use of trade policy to promote enforcement of U.S. intellectual property lists the following “significant accomplishments:”

• the signing of ACTA
• congressional approval of bilateral FTAs with Colombia, Panama and South Korea
• the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue – at which China pledged to end its “indigenous innovation” procurement policies, and pledged to strengthen IP protection and enforcement
• the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, where China agreed to create a position of “Vice Premier, to lead and coordinate intellectual property enforcement across all of China,” to ensure that Chinese government  agencies will use licensed software, and once again to eliminate all “indigenous innovation policies.

Regarding the Special 301, last year USTR unveiled a new initiative “inviting any trading partner appearing on the Special 301 Priority Watch List or Watch List to negotiate a mutually agreed action plan designed to lead to that trading partner’s removal from the list.”  Though the report does not provide specific details about the plans, it states that USTR has begun working with “several” countries to develop these action plans.