Vice President Biden and Cabinet Commit to IP Enforcement
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 by Patrick RossAs we noted at the time, yesterday was first-of-its-kind comprehensive strategic intellectual property enforcement plan, prepared by a White House team in the Obama Administration led by U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel. It’s a pretty broad report, and lots of people are pouring through it, but we were pleased to be a part of it by submitting our own comprehensive comments, and playing a role in hundreds of individual artists and creators also submitting comments.
The White House held a major event yesterday announcing the plan, hosted by Vice President Joe Biden and featuring IPEC Espinel, US Attorney General Eric Holder, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk. You can see a video of the event on the White House web site. Here are some highlights:
Vice President Joe Biden: “Piracy is theft, clean and simple. It’s nothing but theft. It’s smash and grab… We’re going after the people. We’re going after the web sites.”
USIPEC Victoria Espinel: “As a result of what we, the United States government, have committed to do with this plan, I say to those who are suffering from infringement, help is on the way. We understand the problems that you face, and we will work to make things better… For those of you who have for too long abused the rights of America’s creators, I have a warning for you – we are committed to putting you out of business.”
We’ve written nearly fifty times in this space of the commitment to IP protection articulated by officials of the Obama Administration, including the President himself. The unions, artist and artist associations, non-profit and for-profit corporations, and trade association members of the Copyright Alliance stand ready to provide support and assistance in this important effort.
