[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 123 (Tuesday, June 26, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 38088-38090]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15477]


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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET


Development of the Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property 
Enforcement; Request of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement 
Coordinator for Public Comments

AGENCY: Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement 
Coordinator, Executive Office of the President.

ACTION: Request for written submissions from the public.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Government is starting the process of developing a 
new Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement. By 
committing to common goals, the U.S. Government will more effectively 
and efficiently combat intellectual property infringement. In this 
request for comments, the U.S. Government, through the Office of the 
U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (``IPEC''), invites 
public input and participation in shaping the Administration's 
intellectual property enforcement strategy.
    The Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement 
Coordinator was established within the Executive Office of the 
President pursuant to the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for 
Intellectual Property Act of 2008, Public Law 110-403 (Oct. 13, 2008) 
(the ``PRO IP Act''). Pursuant to the PRO IP Act, IPEC is charged with 
developing the Administration's Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual 
Property Enforcement for submission to Congress every three years. In 
carrying out this mandate, IPEC chairs an interagency intellectual 
property enforcement advisory committee comprised of Federal 
departmental and agency heads whose respective departments and agencies 
are involved in intellectual property enforcement.
    This request for comments and recommendations as IPEC develops a 
new enforcement strategy is divided into three parts. In the first 
section titled ``Strategy Recommendations,'' IPEC requests detailed 
recommendations from the public regarding specific recommendations for 
improving the U.S. Government's intellectual property enforcement 
efforts. In the second section titled ``Threat Assessment,'' IPEC seeks 
written submissions from the public regarding existing and emerging 
threats to the protection of intellectual property rights and the 
identification of threats to public health and safety and the U.S. 
economy resulting from intellectual property infringement. In the third 
section titled ``Optional Questions,'' IPEC seeks written submissions 
from the public to assist IPEC and agencies in the development of 
specific action items. Responses to this request for comments may be 
directed to either, or both, of the two sections described above.

DATES: Submissions must be received on or before July 25, 2012, at 5 
p.m.

ADDRESSES: All submissions should be electronically submitted to http://www.regulations.gov. If you are unable to provide submissions to 
regulations.gov, you may contact the Office of the U.S. Intellectual 
Property Enforcement Coordinator at [email protected] 
using the subject line ``Development of the Joint Strategic Plan on 
Intellectual Property Enforcement'' or (202) 395-1808 to arrange for an 
alternate method of transmission. The regulations.gov Web site is a 
Federal E-Government Web site that allows the public to find, review 
and submit comments on documents that have published in the Federal 
Register and that are open for comment. Submissions filed via the 
regulations.gov Web site will be available to the public for review and 
inspection. For this reason, please do not include in your comments 
information of a confidential nature, such as sensitive personal 
information or proprietary business information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Office of the U.S. Intellectual 
Property Enforcement Coordinator, at [email protected] 
or (202) 395-1808.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Through the PRO IP Act, Congress established 
the IPEC, to serve as the lead office within the Executive Office of 
the President responsible for formulating and implementing a Joint 
Strategic Plan to improve the effectiveness of the U.S. Government's 
efforts to protect the rights of intellectual property owners and to 
reduce the costs of and threats posed by intellectual property 
infringement, in the U.S. and in other countries. IPEC seeks public 
input, in the form of written comments, on the formulation of a Joint 
Strategic Plan and on the U.S. Government's intellectual property 
enforcement efforts.

I. Strategy Recommendations

    IPEC requests written submissions from the public that provide 
specific recommendations for significantly improving the U.S. 
Government's intellectual property enforcement efforts. Important to 
the development of an effective enforcement strategy, is ensuring that 
any approaches that are considered to be particularly effective as

[[Page 38089]]

well as any concerns with the present approach to intellectual property 
enforcement are understood by policymakers. Recommendations may 
include, but need not be limited to: Legislation, regulation, guidance, 
executive order, Presidential memoranda, or other executive action, 
including, but not limited to, changes to agency policies, practices or 
methods. Recommendations should include a detailed description that 
addresses the following points: Issue, agencies necessary to address 
the issue, and recommendation for addressing the issue identified. If a 
submission includes multiple recommendations, IPEC requests that the 
submission rank the recommendations in order of priority.
    In addition to the foregoing general request, IPEC is seeking 
information and/or recommendations in response to the questions set out 
in section III below to assist IPEC in developing new enforcement 
strategy action items that further the priorities identified in the 
Joint Strategic Plan. The submission of responses to one or more of the 
questions in section III is entirely optional.

II. Threat Assessment

Emerging and Future Threats

    The issues, threats and challenges that pertain to ensuring 
adequate and appropriate enforcement of intellectual property are 
changing rapidly. Since the inaugural Joint Strategic Plan was released 
in June 2010, new threats have emerged that warrant inclusion among the 
priorities identified in the forthcoming Joint Strategic Plan. 
Therefore, IPEC welcomes information pertaining to and, to the extent 
practicable, recommendations for combating emerging or future threats 
to American innovation and economic competitiveness posed by violations 
of intellectual property rights over the next five to ten years.

Threats to Health and Safety and the U.S. Economy

    IPEC seeks written submissions from the public identifying the 
costs to the U.S. economy resulting from infringement of intellectual 
property rights, both direct and indirect, including any impact on the 
creation or maintenance of jobs. In addition, IPEC seeks written 
submissions identifying threats to public health and safety posed by 
intellectual property infringement, in the U.S. and internationally. 
IPEC also welcomes submissions on the economic costs of enforcing 
intellectual property rights.
    Submissions directed at the economic costs resulting from 
violations of intellectual property rights must clearly identify: (1) 
The type of intellectual property protection at issue, e.g., trademark, 
copyright, patent, trade secret or other (2) the methodology used in 
calculating the estimated costs and any critical assumptions relied 
upon, (3) identify the source of the data on which the cost estimates 
are based, and (4) provide a copy of, or a citation to, each such 
source of information.
    Submissions directed at the economic costs resulting from 
enforcement of intellectual property rights must clearly identify: (1) 
The type of intellectual property protection at issue, e.g., trademark, 
copyright, patent, trade secret or other (2) the methodology used in 
calculating the estimated costs and any critical assumptions relied 
upon, (3) identify the source of the data on which the cost estimates 
are based, and (4) provide a copy of, or a citation to, each such 
source of information.
    Submissions directed at threats to public health or safety must: 
(1) Include a detailed description of the threat, (2) identify the 
source of the information demonstrating the existence of the threat, 
and (3) provide a copy of, or a citation to, each such source of 
information.

III. Optional Questions

    1. How can international regulatory and law enforcement 
collaboration and information sharing be enhanced to address cross-
border intellectual property infringement?
    2. What legal or operational changes might be made, or 
collaborative steps undertaken between federal agencies and the private 
sector, to streamline or improve the efficacy of enforcement efforts 
directed at protecting intellectual property rights?
    3. What measures can be taken by the private sector to share 
actionable information on entities engaging in or supporting 
infringement of intellectual property rights?
    a. To the extent necessary, what government safeguards and 
conditions would be useful to facilitate sharing of such information?
    4. What information developed from law enforcement and intelligence 
community threat assessments would be beneficial to the private sector 
in order to mitigate the risk of trade secret theft and economic 
espionage?
    5. What additional measures by the U.S. Government would most 
significantly enhance efforts to combat trade secret theft and economic 
espionage?
    6. When goods are imported into the United States, U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection (``CBP'') and other federal agencies charged with 
enforcing intellectual property rights and ensuring the safety of 
products entering the stream commerce, e.g., U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, engage in a 
risk-based assessment of the level of risk that a shipment contains 
violative goods., and decides whether to inspect the shipment based on 
this risk determination. What steps can federal agencies and the 
private sector take to improve the risk assessment process so that high 
risk shipments may be quickly identified and segmented from lower risk 
shipments?
    7. What authentication tools and track and trace technologies would 
significantly enhance federal efforts to identify suspect counterfeit 
or pirated goods?
    8. In a global economy that increasingly utilizes Internet based e-
commerce and mobile platforms for transactions, the number of shipments 
sent through international mail and express carrier services has 
dramatically grown in recent years. Accordingly, law enforcement 
efforts directed at interdicting infringing goods shipped in the 
express and international mail environments have resulted in 
significant increases to seizure levels of infringing goods shipped 
through these modes of transit. What steps could be undertaken by CBP, 
its partner U.S. Government agencies, and the private sector to further 
improve detection of express carrier and international mail shipments 
containing infringing goods?
    9. Are there ways in which CBP could improve its intellectual 
property rights e-recordation system to enhance ease of use and make it 
a more useful tool for intellectual property rights enforcement?
    10. As laid out in IPEC's 2011 Annual Report on Intellectual 
Property Enforcement, using our resources as efficiently as possible is 
a priority. Are there additional ways in which the U.S. Government 
could make more efficient use of its resources in protecting 
intellectual property?

Background

    The 2010 Joint Strategic Plan as well as information describing a 
number of intellectual property enforcement initiatives led by the 
Office of the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator can be 
found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/intellectualproperty.

[[Page 38090]]

    As set forth by the PRO IP Act, the objectives of the Joint 
Strategic Plan include:
     Reducing the supply of infringing goods, domestically and 
internationally;
     Identifying weaknesses, duplication of efforts, waste, and 
other unjustified impediments to effective enforcement actions;
     Promoting information sharing between participating 
agencies to the extent permissible by law;
     Disrupting and eliminating infringement networks in the 
U.S. and in other countries;
     Strengthening the capacity of other countries to protect 
and enforce intellectual property rights;
     Reducing the number of countries that fail to enforce 
intellectual property rights;
     Assisting other countries to more effectively enforce 
intellectual property rights;
     Protecting intellectual property rights in other countries 
by:
    [cir] Working with other countries to reduce intellectual property 
crimes in other countries;
    [cir] Improving information sharing between law enforcement 
agencies in the U.S. and in other countries; and
    [cir] Establishing procedures for consulting with interested groups 
within other countries;
     Establishing programs to enhance the enforcement efforts 
of foreign governments by providing training and technical assistance 
designed to:
    [cir] Enhance the efficiencies and minimize the duplication of U.S. 
Government training and assistance efforts;
    [cir] Prioritize deployment of U.S. Government resources to those 
countries in which programs can be carried out most effectively and 
will have the greatest impact on reducing the number of infringing 
products in the relevant U.S. market, protecting the intellectual 
property rights of U.S. rights holders, and protecting the interests of 
U.S. persons otherwise harmed by infringements in other countries.

Victoria A. Espinel,
United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Executive 
Office of the President.
[FR Doc. 2012-15477 Filed 6-25-12; 8:45 am]
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