High Hopes for IP Enforcement Coordinator Nominee Vishal Amin
President Donald Trump’s nomination of House Judiciary Committee Senior Majority Counsel Vishal Amin as the White House’s Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator provides a new opportunity for the Trump administration to shape IP rights enforcement policy, but it’s unclear whether there will be a fundamental shift in how the coordinator affects policy, stakeholders told us. The coordinator handles the White House’s legal policy portfolio on copyright, patent and trademark issues, including the executive branch’s three-year strategic plan for IP rights enforcement. Previous Coordinator Daniel Marti submitted the most recent three-year plan in December (see 1612120062).
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The White House said Friday that Trump intended to appoint Amin the coordinator, subject to Senate confirmation. Content-side interests noted Amin’s current role at House Judiciary, in which he has aided the committee’s years-long work on copyright and patent law revamp legislation. Amin previously was associate director-domestic policy during President George W. Bush’s administration and an associate policy director in the Department of Commerce.
Amin “is a smart, thoughtful leader and we look forward to working with him,” RIAA CEO Cary Sherman said in a statement. He said the U.S. IP industries "are a vital economic engine for this country, contributing more than $1 trillion to the economy and hundreds of thousands of workers. Music in particular is a cornerstone of modern culture and commerce, an essential component of any technology platform. The prompt appointment and consideration of this position is critical, and we commend President Trump for his choice.”
Trump’s nomination of Amin presents “an opportunity for a fresh start” on ensuring the coordinator pushes for the federal government to enforce rights for both IP rightsholders and “vigorous protections” for internet users, something that was not always a priority under previous coordinators, said Electronic Frontier Foundation senior staff attorney Mitch Stoltz. EFF criticized IPEC for “essentially applying pressure on industry to expand IP enforcement in ways that aren’t called for by any existing laws or regulations,” he said. “It will be interesting to watch what [Amin’s] priorities will be,” Stoltz said. “Of course we hope he will focus on combating physical goods counterfeiting rather than policing the internet.”
“I don’t think we know precisely how [the IPEC] office is going to continue to evolve under the Trump administration but with Amin’s nomination any shift may become clear over the course of 2017, said Tom Sydnor, visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute's Center for Internet, Communications and Technology Policy. “There are different ways that the office can evolve,” but it will be interesting how IPEC integrates Trump’s preference to take an “aggressive approach” to enforcing the U.S.’s existing trade agreements, Sydnor said.
The U.S. has traditionally been “fairly cautious” in handling World Trade Organization negotiations, so an aggressive approach will be interesting to monitor, Sydnor said. Stakeholders should also observe how IPEC under Amin handles more controversial IP issues like patent revamp efforts and online piracy, Sydnor said. Those issues may also factor into Amin’s eventual Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Sydnor said. Amin could face a “relatively smooth confirmation process,” but IP issues often engender “strong feelings” and result in divisions that don’t break down along party lines, Sydnor said.