I am a firm believer in intellectual property as an incentive to innovate and was pleased by the bipartisan efforts of a number of senators who were working to improve IP protection in the US (Business Week). PRO-IP is an acronym for ”Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property,” a bill established to increase penalties for IP theft and to provide more resources to government agencies to combat such activities. In light of the estimated 750K jobs and $250 Billion lost by the US economy due to IP piracy, a number of senators are proposing bills to establish a key White House role to oversee programs to protect IP. This role would have greater authority than the current Coordinator of International Intellectual Property Enforcement and be in a better position to cross-coordinate among a number of disparate government agencies. The role would also have about 30x the budget (today = $1MM, proposed = $30MM). Not great as government programs go, but certainly a start. 

Now that I’ve paraphrased (and if you didn’t click above), the full article can be found here…

Tags: intellectual property //