US Senate Introduces Intellectual Property Rights Act
08-Feb-2007
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Senators Evan Bayh (D-Ind) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) introduced on February 7, 2007, new legislation to defend US companies and workers by strengthening laws that protect American Intellectual Property (IP), including product designs, brand names and copyrighted material.
The legislation, called the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Act, will improve IP theft enforcement and increase penalties by creating one organized force to combat IP theft and elevating the government’s response to IP theft to the same level as money laundering and other black-market crimes.
According to a statement by Indiana Senator Evan Bayh's Office, the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Act would:
Create one organized force to combat IP theft that would facilitate the sharing of information;
Establish formal processes for consulting with small and medium-sized businesses, industry associations and other interested groups and develop resources to assist such stakeholders in protecting their IP;
Establish an international task force of foreign countries to track and identify IP criminals;
Encourage reliable trading partners to join the task force;
Require a strategic plan to identify the objectives of the Act and the methods for achieving those objectives.