Mark Elliot to lead Chamber’s IP unit
The Hill
Former Pfizer executive Mark Elliot will join the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center as executive vice president.
The Chamber announced Elliot’s hiring Tuesday; he previously spent nine years at Pfizer where he most recently served as senior director of international public affairs. A native Australian, Elliot held a number of policy and media roles in that country’s government.
“Mark’s unique combination of project and people management skills, experience in building support for intellectual property globally and strong public affairs communications track record will help us build on GIPC’s strong track record of success,” said David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the GIPC.
The GPIC has been one of the strongest backers of the recent push for legislation to combat online piracy and increased enforcement of copyright laws by the Obama administration, which has begun seizing domains that link to infringing content.
“Mark will play a pivotal role in leading the GIPC team to address critical challenges facing our innovative and creative industries — focusing on advancing strong IP rules and effective enforcement at home and abroad,” Hirschmann said.
While the GPIC has praised the ongoing enforcement actions by the administration, they have pushed for the White House to increase pressure the country’s trading partners to enforce U.S. copyrights, particularly in China.
The Chamber is a strong supporter of the rogue websites bill sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that will likely be reintroduced in the coming weeks.
