Additional House Judiciary Committee co-sponsors include: Subcommittee on Intellectual Property Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA), Representatives Steve Chabot (R-OH), Tom Feeney (R-FL), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ric Keller (R-FL), and Adam Schiff (D-CA).

“Protecting intellectual property, such as trademarks and copyrights, is critical to preserving a strong American economy,” explained Ranking Member Smith, continuing:

“Counterfeiting and pirating intellectual property costs American jobs, reduces American prosperity and threatens the existence of American companies. By protecting intellectual property, this bill preserves American jobs, encourages innovation and helps build a strong American economy.”

“This legislation is an important and necessary step in the fight to maintain our competitive edge in a global marketplace,” Chairman Conyers added. “By providing additional resources for enforcement of intellectual property, we ensure that innovation and creativity will continue to prosper in our society.”

Specifically, the PRO IP bill:

• Strengthens the substantive civil and criminal laws relating to copyright and trademark infringement;
• Establishes the Office of the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (USIPER) to enhance nationwide and international coordination of intellectual property enforcement efforts;
• Provides for the appointment of intellectual property officers to work with foreign countries in their efforts to combat counterfeiting and piracy;
• Authorizes the creation of a permanent Intellectual Property Division within the Department of Justice to improve law enforcement coordination; and
• Gives the Justice Department additional resources to improve intellectual property law enforcement, including local law enforcement grants and additional investigative and prosecutorial personnel.

According to the bipartisan group, American intellectual property industries account for over half of all US exports, represent 40% of the country’s economic growth, and employ 18 million Americans.

The global economic cost of counterfeiting and piracy is estimated at nearly $600 billion per year in lost sales. That is approximately five to seven percent of global trade. The cost of counterfeiting and piracy to the US economy is estimated to be between $200 and $250 billion per year in lost sales, and nearly 750,000 jobs.