White House Creates IP Advisory Panels

President Barack Obama issued an executive order last week establishing two advisory committees designed to improve the federal government’s intellectual property (IP) enforcement efforts. The order “confirms the Administration’s commitment to creating jobs and improving the economy by strengthening the enforcement of IP laws, the laws designed to protect and foster America’s inventiveness and creativity,” says Vic­tor­ia A. Espinel, the U.S. IP enforcement coordinator. The order establishes a Cabinet-level advisory committee composed of the heads of the departments responsible for intellectual property enforcement, including the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, Health & Human Services, State, Treasury, and Agriculture, as well as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It also establishes another panel consisting of representatives from the agencies responsible for designing and carrying out the White House’s strategy for stopping theft of IP. The committees, Espinel says, will encourage innovation by focusing and intensifying the Administration’s efforts to combat IP theft in the U.S. and abroad.