Please contact Scott Hall at smhall@uschamber.com or 202-463-5817.
When Being an IP Champion is Your Job
By Austin Donohue
There’s a scene in the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can in which Leonardo Dicaprio’s character, fed up with being pursued by police, turns to an FBI agent, played by Tom Hanks, and screams out “stop chasing me!” Hanks’ character, unfazed, simply replies “I can’t. It’s my job.”
In the real world, there is no screenwriter waiting in the wings with a magical ending, where all the hero needs is a cool car and no backup to save the day. It’s through collaborations between agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) where we see the impact these efforts have on our daily lives.
Through the efforts of 21 federal agencies, international and local law enforcement, and a diverse network of attorneys and security experts, we are seeing real results and real efforts to protect intellectual property.
One such example is evidenced with Operation Team Player, a joint operation between the National IPR Coordination Center (IPR Center), ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), CBP, the Mexican Revenue Service (SAT) and the major sports leagues, which disrupted a massive sports counterfeiting ring involving the arrests of 70 people, shuttering of over five thousand counterfeiting websites, and seizure of $37 million-worth of fake NFL merchandise in New York and New Jersey.
Other examples include:
This collaborative approach is helping to protect innovation, and the jobs provided by a variety of industries, from pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, to defense and security. At every corner of the spectrum, from national security to your daughter’s favorite baseball cap, there is someone there to protect your money, time, and ideas.
You don’t need Superman. You don’t even need Tom Hanks. You have real heroes, waiting in the wings, looking out for your life, and your future. And on April 23rd, we look forward to recognizing these IP Champions at the first line of defense of IP rights. Join us in celebration of the great enforcement work done by these agencies in light of World IP Day for the 2014 IP Champions Conference and Awards.