Chamber Seeks I.P. Strategy
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce unveiled its intellectual property agenda for the year today, calling on the White House to enact a national strategy by summer as a crucial part of any jobs agenda. “What drives jobs and growth is innovation, technological invention and creativity,” said NBC Universal Executive Vice President Rick Cotton. “Tolerating IP theft is really slow-motion economic suicide.” The national plan was mandated by passage of a 2008 law that created the office of Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in the White House. The Chamber’s Global Intellectual Property Center’s agenda centers on enforcement by recommending a boost in resources for Customs and Border Protection agents to stop the flow of counterfeit goods, fighting digital IP theft and completing work on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. GIPC Executive Vice President Mark Esper noted that 18 million jobs rely directly on the intellectual property industry, and has a $5 trillion impact on the U.S. economy.
