Make no mistake, IP thefts steal U.S. jobs

December 13, 2011

Des Moines Register

By MARK ELLIOT

The theft of intellectual property is more than theft of property. It’s the theft of confidence in U.S. brands. It’s the theft of public safety. It’s the theft of domestic innovation and ingenuity. But worst of all, it’s the theft of U.S. jobs.

Rogue websites, which attract 53 billion hits each year (nearly 9 visits for each person on the planet), exist for the purpose of stealing and profiting from American ingenuity, at the expense of the very consumers they seek to hurt.

The Senate’s Protect IP Act (S. 968), co-sponsored by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia., seeks to remedy this scourge of the online theft. This important piece of legislation, which has passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, takes reasonable and tailored steps to disrupt the business models of foreign counterfeiters and digital pirates.

American IP-intensive industries, which encompass printing and publishing to manufacturing to green technologies to pharmaceuticals, account for 19 million American jobs and over $7.7 trillion in output annually.

These industries frequently lead in innovation, supporting the United States’ role as a global economic power and as a job creator. In this time of severe economic challenges, it is absolutely critical and necessary that Congress address the blatant attack on American jobs by the criminal networks behind foreign rogue websites.

When these sites are based within our borders, law enforcement agencies have the authority to shut them down — as in the case of “Operation in Our Sites,” an ongoing initiative by U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigrations and Customs Enforcement that has shuttered 350 of the worst-of-the-worst rogue sites in the past 18 months. Many of these ills, however, come from beyond our borders. This is this massive loophole which prevents us from enforcing existing IP laws to websites based overseas.

The Protect IP Act offers a tool to tackle foreign rogue sites that is both commercially reasonable and effective. It can help to protect U.S. consumers and workers from the massive theft of intellectual property by foreign criminals who do not pay taxes, do not abide by international health and safety standards, and do not contribute anything to the legitimate marketplace.

The methodology implemented to seize domain names of rogue sites is not only not new in the case of IP enforcement (re: “Operation in Our Sites”), but has been and is already used to combat child pornography and malware. This process also provides for adequate transparency and due process, utilizing the same procedures as in any other federal civil case.

The result is an approach that combats foreign criminals online, helps give consumers a safer Internet experience, and thereby promotes free speech. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote, “there is no contradiction between intellectual property rights protection and enforcement and ensuring freedom of expression on the Internet.”

We thank Sen. Grassley for his leadership on this issue and for his support for this critical piece of legislation, the Protect IP Act.

MARK ELLIOT is executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center in Washington, D.C.

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