Standing Up for America’s Innovators

As President Obama has said, to win the future and succeed in the global economy, the U.S. must continue to be a hub of innovation. To do this, it is critical that we protect the intellectual property of America’s innovators. That’s why one year ago today, on June 22, 2010, we issued the Obama Administration’s Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement.

Today, we are sending to Congress and the American people an update (pdf) on what we have done to protect American intellectual property and innovation over the last year.

The actions described in this report exemplify the Administration’s commitment to protect and grow jobs and exports, as well as to safeguard the health and safety of our people. After all, fake pharmaceuticals and counterfeit goods not only pose a threat to American jobs and businesses, they also pose a threat to the well being of our families. Across every measure, we have made substantial progress to improve intellectual property protection.

The report (pdf) describes the successes to safeguard innovation, including increased law enforcement operations, cracking down on illegal counterfeiting and other intellectual property theft here at home and overseas; an innovative approach to reducing online infringement; a review of our domestic legislation leading to 20 legislative recommendations for Congress; and improved coordination of domestic law enforcement, our embassies overseas and our outreach and capacity building efforts.

We have focused on, and seen progress in a number of specific areas, including counterfeit pharmaceuticals, online piracy, stopping counterfeits from being sold to our military and better data collection. As I testified before the United States Senate Judiciary Committee today, I was once again reminded that while we have seen much progress, the problem we face is very serious and has a significant detrimental impact on jobs and our economy. Implementing the Strategy will require sustained effort across more than just one year. I know there is more work to be done and we will continue that fight. As always, my office door remains open and I urge you to bring us your concerns and your ideas for how we can do more.