Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP) November 2009 Meeting

Friday, November 13, 2009 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm (Eastern Time)

U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Herman Lay Room
1615 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20062

Click here to register or learn more.

calia_rob_bio.pdf

Rob Calia is the Director of Counterfeiting and Piracy for the Global Intellectual Property Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the world’s largest business federation representing 3 million companies, associations, state and local chambers, and American Chambers of Commerce abroad.

Rob joined the Chamber in March 2006 to advance its fight against counterfeiting and piracy, which costs the U.S. economy an estimated $250 billion per year, more than 750,000 American jobs, and poses a significant threat to consumer health and safety.

"We must move from a perspective where counterfeiting is a four-syllable word to one where it is a four-letter word," says NBCU Executive VP and General Counsel Rick Cotton, "from where counterfeiting is regarded as morally ambiguous to where it is recognized as a reprehensible job killer in a U.S. economy that is starved for high-wage employment."

Cotton was testifying Tuesday as chairman of the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy before a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on S 1631, the Customs Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act.

The coalition strongly supports the bill, which would boost the trade-protection roles of the CBP (Bureau of Customs and Border Protection) and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

The Hollywood Reporter

The U.S. needs improved customs and border protection resources for its fight against piracy, NBC Universal executive vp and general counsel Rick Cotton urged a U.S. Senate committee Tuesday.

"We cannot call upon our trading partners to take extraordinary measures to protect intellectual property if we are not willing to give the customs agencies all the resources and statutory tools they need to enable them to safeguard our borders against infringement," he said.

Cotton, who is also chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy (CACP), urged the Senate to move forward with legislation designed to bolster intellectual property enforcement resources and tools.

The bill was recently introduced in the Senate, with the House of Representatives not having introduced a similar bill yet.

Legislation to bolster intellectual property enforcement resources and tools for the Homeland Security Department through its Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies could move through the Senate Finance Committee before Thanksgiving, aides said Monday.

The measure, which Finance Chairman Max Baucus and ranking member Charles Grassley introduced in August, will be the focus of a hearing today.

After extensive negotiations with industry stakeholders, the bill has the backing of groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's 650-member Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy. Coalition Chairman Rick Cotton, who serves as general counsel for NBC-Universal, will testify in support of the IP provisions, which are part of a broader CBP reauthorization effort. The bill would establish an IP coordination center within ICE to prevent importation or exportation of pirated and counterfeit goods.

Commerce Secretary Locke, the only Cabinet secretary to join President Obama on his trip this week to Russia, stressed the need to combat intellectual property piracy and counterfeiting with Russian Minister of Economic Development Elvira Nabiullina, although the issue took a backseat to broader issues.

"IP is on the agenda, but I wouldn't want to exaggerate its importance in these talks," a senior Commerce official traveling with Locke said Tuesday. Topics like Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization, larger rule of law questions surrounding government transparency and import tariffs, and climate change were prioritized. But in same-day remarks at a business summit, Locke lauded Russia's recruitment of U.S. corporations like Boeing, Motorola, Microsoft, and Procter & Gamble, all of whom have a huge stake in fighting foreign and domestic IP crime.

A six-page summary of talks on an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement released today by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative emphasizes that "the intended focus is on counterfeiting and piracy activities that significantly affect commercial interests, rather than on the activities of ordinary citizens." That seeks to pacify some interests who feared the deal will increase government's power to conduct searches and seizures of passengers' laptops and iPods at the border. The pact "is not intended to interfere with a signatory's ability to respect its citizens' fundamental rights and civil liberties," the summary added, and will honor the World Trade Organization's Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreement. The new USTR summary provides a broad outline of negotiators' definitions and objectives with respect to civil and criminal enforcement measures.