U.S. government efforts to protect and enforce intellectual property (IP) rights are crucial to preventing billions of dollars in losses and mitigating health and safety risks from trade in counterfeit and pirated goods. These efforts are coordinated through the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council (NIPLECC), created by Congress in 1999, and the Strategy for Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP), initiated by the Bush administration in 2004. This report describes the evolution of NIPLECC and STOP, assesses the extent to which STOP addresses the desirable characteristics of an effective national strategy, and evaluates the challenges to implementing a strategy for protecting and enforcing IP rights. GAO examined relevant documents, interviewed agency and industry officials, and assessed STOP using criteria previously developed by GAO.

U.S. government efforts to protect and enforce intellectual property (IP) rights are crucial to preventing billions of dollars in losses and mitigating health and safety risks from trade in counterfeit and pirated goods. These efforts are coordinated through the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordination Council (NIPLECC), created by Congress in 1999, and the Strategy for Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP), initiated by the Bush administration in 2004. This report describes the evolution of NIPLECC and STOP, assesses the extent to which STOP addresses the desirable characteristics of an effective national strategy, and evaluates the challenges to implementing a strategy for protecting and enforcing IP rights. GAO examined relevant documents, interviewed agency and industry officials, and assessed STOP using criteria previously developed by GAO.

U.S. gov¿t. efforts to protect & enforce intellectual property (IP) rights domestically & overseas are crucial to preventing billions of dollars in losses to U.S. industry & IP rights owners & to avoiding health & safety risks resulting from the trade in counterfeit & pirated goods. A coord. structure has evolved to address coord. issues across U.S. gov¿t agencies. First, Congress created the interagency Nat. Intellectual Property Rights Law Enforcement Coord. Council (NIPLECC) in 1999. In 2004, the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP) was initiated. This report focuses on: the effectiveness of NIPLECC & STOP as a coord. structure to guide & manage U.S. gov¿t. efforts; & the extent to which STOP meets the criteria for an effective nat. strategy. Illus.

Consists mainly of text from the book, Reconciling with the Taliban?

Intellectual property (IP) is an important component of the U.S. economy. U.S. government efforts to protect and enforce IP rights domestically and overseas are crucial to safeguarding innovation and preventing significant losses to U.S. industry and IP rights owners as well as addressing health and safety risks resulting from the trade in counterfeit and pirated goods. This testimony addresses two topics on IP protection and enforcement in anticipation of some of the challenges ahead in implementing a new Act: (1) lessons learned from past efforts to coordinate IP protection and enforcement; and (2) observations on a recent initiative to place IP attaches overseas to promote and protect IP rights. Illustrations.