Intellectual Property News

Coordinator for International Intellectual Property Enforcement

Background

On July 22, 2005, President Bush announced the creation of a senior position to help combat intellectual property (IP) violations. The Office of the Coordinator for International Intellectual Property Enforcement will be located at the Department of Commerce.

The establishment of this office reinforces the Bush Administration’s commitment to aggressively enforce intellectual property rights and will support ongoing Administration initiatives.

Coordinator of International Intellectual Property Enforcement

With guidance from Secretary Gutierrez, this office will focus entirely on coordinating and leveraging the resources within the federal government to protect U.S. intellectual property at home and abroad.

The Coordinator of International Intellectual Property Enforcement will focus on:

• Coordinating with relevant federal agencies such as Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property; the Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division; the Deputy United States Trade Representative; the Commissioner of Customs; the Undersecretary of State for Economics, Business and Agricultural Affairs; and the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade;
• Serving as the head of the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council (NIPLECC),
• Developing policies to address international intellectual property violations and enforce intellectual property laws, and 
• Implementing strategies for protecting American intellectual property overseas.

The Coordinator will accordingly play a significant role in the ongoing implementation of the Bush administration’s Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) Initiative launched in 2004.

STOP! is a U.S. government-wide initiative to block trade around the world in pirated and counterfeit goods and empower U.S. businesses to secure and enforce their intellectual property rights.

The Office of the Coordinator was established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2005 and was appropriated $2 million for activities through September 2006.  Read more at commerce.gov

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	Did You Know?
	There are common law rights Federal registration is not required to establish rights in a trademark. Common law rights arise from actual use of a mark. Generally, the first to either use a mark in commerce or file an intent to use application with the Patent and Trademark Office has the ultimate right to use and registration. However, there are many benefits of federal trademark registration.