White House Asks for Comments to Develop New IPR Strategy

The White House is asking for industry comments to help craft the next iteration of its Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement (here). The plan, which is administered by the Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, aims to put in place the mechanisms to combat fraudulent goods and other intellectual property infringement, while also assisting other countries in cracking down on illegal operations, the White House said in a Sept. 1 Federal Register notice. Through the plan, the U.S. aims to prioritize U.S. resources for "countries where programs can be carried out most effectively with the greatest impact on reducing the number of infringing products imported into the United States, while also protecting the intellectual property rights of U.S. rights holders and the interests of U.S. persons otherwise harmed by infringements in other countries," said the notice. Following two previous three-year versions, this plan will last from 2016-19. The notice requests “input and recommendations” on the broad effort to crack down on IP infringement, including through legislation, presidential action and regulatory changes, “as well as ideas for improving any of the existing voluntary private-sector initiatives and for establishing new voluntary private-sector initiatives.”