New IP law creating cabinet-level IP enforcement coordinator signals enhanced focus on combating counterfeit goods

A new federal law, the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 (PROIPA), aims to improve federal enforcement of intellectual property rights by enhancing the priority and influence of IP enforcement and increasing penalties for violating US copyright and trademark rights. The new law appropriates $275 million over the next five years for enforcement programs and its implementation is expected to require a total of $429 million over the 2009-2013 period. But perhaps most notably, as Raymond A. Kurz and Lewis E. Leibowitz of Hogan & Hartson LLP explain in this article, the new law requires President Obama to appoint to his cabinet an IP Czar, formally titled the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), to advise the president and to coordinate federal programs and policy designed to combat IP piracy. The authors believe that, while the new law apparently was aimed more directly at traffickers in counterfeit pharmaceuticals, food items, toys, and machine parts, all of which threaten confidence in the supply chain and represent a threat to the consumer, it will significantly enhance anticounterfeiting efforts across the full spectrum of goods. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]