Officials representing seven United States Government agencies are traveling through Europe, June 6-10, on the second leg of the Administration's Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) initiative aiming to strengthen cooperative enforcement efforts against the international trade in fakes. Having returned from meetings with their Asian counterparts in mid-April, the U.S. delegation will meet with German, UK, French and European Commission officials to discuss cooperation to crack down on global piracy and counterfeiting.
"Intellectual Property Rights violations are a significant source of revenue for organized criminal groups" said Randy Beardsworth, Acting Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security in the Department of Homeland Security. "These violations pose a potential vulnerability to our national security. The Department of Homeland Security is actively engaged in following the money trail, dismantling these criminal groups, and preventing the importation of infringing goods into the U.S."
Following a model that generated positive results in Asia, U.S. officials will meet with government officials and representatives of the private sector across Europe to learn about their successful enforcement programs and to share U.S. proposals to stop the global trade of tangible counterfeit goods. Among the discussion topics are U.S. proposals to simplify registration and improve protection of brands in overseas markets by:
- Strengthening border control measures.
- Boosting investigation and prosecution of money laundering crimes associated with trade in fakes.
- Raising the stakes for global pirates and counterfeiters by improving law enforcement methods.
- Standardizing the trademark registration process.
The delegation will also propose means to increase consistency in IP policy and to coordinate international enforcement actions.
The delegation will include Victoria Espinel, Acting Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property; Shaun Donnelly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs; Stephen Jacobs, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Agreements and Compliance; Anne Maricich, Director for Trade Management of the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Customs and Border Protection; Martha Stansell-Gamm, Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; and Elaine Wu, Attorney-Advisor for the Office of International Relations of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau of the Department of Homeland Security will be represented by its respective attach
