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Senator whips up support for IP bill
- Posted in: Ip Strategy
on 26th February 2007 Link to this page
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An IP whirlwind is blowing through US politics as Democrat Senator, Evan Bayh, aims to build a full head of steam behind his Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement bill. Stopping off at Fort Wayne in his Indiana jurisdiction on Thursday 22 February, Bayh said that foreign firms’ theft of US ideas has cost America three quarters of a million jobs. He also criticised certain countries for not enforcing their own IP laws and putting US businesses at a disadvantage. Showing that even local firms suffer, he spoke of how a toolmaker’s executive in nearby South Bend had found a picture of his wife on the packaging of a Chinese fake.
Bayh and his Republican colleague, Sen. George Voinovich (Ohio), introduced the bill through a Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month. If passed into law, it will pave the way for a special Enforcement Network: an agency devoted to tracking and prosecuting IP criminals.
Following a tactical meeting with special interest groups on 14 February, Senator Bayh said: ‘When we let other countries steal our ideas, we’re letting them take our jobs, too – that has to stop … My legislation would address these problems head-on by treating IP theft with the seriousness it demands to protect American companies and safeguard the jobs of American workers.’
The bill has won support from the powerful National Electrical Manufacturing Association (NEMA). Adding himself to Bayh’s list of supporters, NEMA president, Evan Gaddis, said: ‘Counterfeiting in electrical products is on the rise and represents a growing public safety concern … More often than not, the counterfeit electrical product is substandard and unsafe.’
Ann Wilson, vice-president of government affairs for the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), has emerged as another prominent backer: ‘Passage of this important legislation will strengthen domestic and international enforcement against counterfeiters, facilitate cooperation between law enforcement and the private sector and sustain focus on combating IPR crimes over the long term,’ she said in a press release.
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