Protecting American Jobs – A Bargain at Any Price
Every day, rogue websites are ripping off America’s innovators and creators. There are 19 million Americans employed by our intellectual property-intensive industries and these jobs are placed at risk by the foreign thieves who operate rogue sites to counterfeit America’s best-known products and pirate our most popular creative works. And if innovation is the cure to our economic woes, rogues websites stand ready to siphon off the vitality of our recovery before it even happens.
Fortunately, Congress recognizes this problem and is committed to tackling rogue websites. The PROTECT IP Act would cut off rogue websites from the U.S. marketplace. That bill enjoys support from a massive and varied coalition of businesses, trade associations, and organized labor. The bill has bipartisan support, is co-sponsored by over a quarter of the U.S. Senate, and was unanimously approved by the Judiciary Committee. Rogue sites legislation is supported by over 43 State Attorneys General, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and, recently, by the National Conference of State Legislators.
Earlier this week the Congressional Budget Office gave another boost to rogue site legislation, issuing a letter that concludes the PROTECT IP Act “would not affect direct spending or revenues” and “would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.” Given that America’s IP-intensive industries employ more than 19 million Americans and generate nearly $7.7 trillion in gross output, should Congress decide to provide more resources to the Justice Department, it will be a small price to pay to save American jobs and protect American consumers.
