    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [March 16, 2006]
    [Pages 490-492]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act
    March 16, 2006

        Thank you. Welcome. Thanks for coming. In a few moments, I will sign
    a bill that protects the hard work of American innovators, strengthens
    the rule of law, and helps keep our families and consumers safe. The
    Stop Counterfeiting in Manufactured Goods Act has earned broad support,
    and I want to thank all those who helped get this bill passed for being
    here today. I want to thank the lawmakers from both political parties
    for getting this piece of legislation to this desk. I want to thank the
    consumer protection groups who have joined us as well. Thanks for your
    hard work on this important piece of legislation.
        I want to thank the Attorney General, Al Gonzales, who has joined us; the Secretary of Commerce, Carlos
    Gutierrez; my

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    Secretary of Labor, Elaine Chao. Thank you
    all for being here. I appreciate the chairman of the Judiciary--House
    Judiciary, Jim Sensenbrenner,
    for joining us today. I also want to thank the bill's sponsor, Joe
    Knollenberg from Michigan, as well as
    Bobby Scott from Virginia. Thank you
    three Members for being here. The Senators claim they're voting on
    important legislation; otherwise, they would have been here too.
    [Laughter]
        This economy of ours is strong; it's getting stronger. We grew at
    3.5 percent last year. The national unemployment rate is 4.8 percent.
    People are buying homes. The small-business sector is strong.
    Productivity is up. Our country is productive; it's innovative; it's
    entrepreneurial. And we've got to keep it that way.
        One of the problems we have is that people feel comfortable, at
    times, in trying to take a shortcut to success in the business world.
    They feel like they can copy existing products instead of designing
    their own. In order to keep this economy innovative and entrepreneurial,
    it's important for us to enforce law, and if the laws are weak, pass new
    laws to make sure that the problem of counterfeiting, which has been
    growing rapidly, is arrested, is held in check.
        Counterfeiting costs our country hundreds of billion dollars a year.
    It has got a lot of harmful effects in our economy. Counterfeiting hurts
    businesses. They lose the right to profit from their innovation.
    Counterfeiting hurts workers because counterfeiting undercuts honest
    competition, rewards illegal competitors. Counterfeiting hurts our--
    counterfeiting hurts consumers because fake products expose our people
    to serious health and safety risks. Counterfeiting hurts the Government.
    We lose out on tax revenue. We have to use our resources for law--of law
    enforcement to stop counterfeiting. Counterfeiting hurts national
    security because terrorist networks use counterfeit sales to, sometimes,
    finance their operations.
        This administration and Congress have worked together to confront
    the illegal threat--the real threat of illegal activity such as
    counterfeiting. And the bill I'm signing today is an important step
    forward.
        The bill helps us defeat counterfeiting in two key ways. First, the
    bill strengthens our laws against trading counterfeit labels and
    packaging. In the past, the law prohibited the manufacturing, shipping,
    and--or selling of counterfeit goods, but it did not make it a crime to
    ship falsified labels or packaging, which counterfeiters could then
    attach to fake products.
        This loophole helped counterfeiters cheat consumers by passing off
    poorly-made items as brandname goods. By closing the loophole, we're
    going to keep honest Americans from losing business to scam artists.
        Secondly, the bill strengthens penalties for counterfeiters and
    gives prosecutors new tools to stop those who defraud American
    consumers. The bill requires courts to order the destruction of all
    counterfeit products seized as a part of a criminal investigation. The
    bill requires convicted counterfeiters to turn over their profits as
    well as any equipment used in their operations, so it can't be used to
    cheat our people again. The bill requires those convicted of
    counterfeiting to reimburse the legitimate businesses they exploited.
    These commonsense reforms will help law enforcement to crack down on
    this serious crime. We've got to get the counterfeiters and their
    products off the streets.
        The tools in the bill I sign today will become a part of our broad
    effort to protect the creativity and innovation of our entrepreneurs.
    This administration is leading an initiative called STOP--Strategy
    Targeting Organized Piracy. Nine Federal agencies are coming together in
    this initiative, including the Department of Justice, which has launched
    the most aggressive effort in American history to prevent intellectual
    property violations. We've expanded computer hacking and intellectual
    property units in U.S. Attorney's offices all across

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    the country. We're posting specially trained prosecutors and FBI agents
    at American Embassies in Asia and Eastern Europe. We're working with
    other nations and the World Trade Organization to promote strong
    intellectual property laws around the globe. We're cooperating with the
    private sector to raise awareness of counterfeiting so we can help stop
    fraud before it starts.
        These efforts are getting some results. Last year, we dismantled a
    piracy ring in Massachusetts that was planning to sell more than 30,000
    counterfeit hand bags and shoes and necklaces and other items. With
    partners overseas, we broke up a prescription drug counterfeiting
    network and seized more than $4 million in phony medicine. With the help
    of 16 countries on 5 continents, we removed more than a $100 million
    worth of illegal online software, games, movies, and music. This is a
    really important effort, and as we call upon folks to send a message to
    the counterfeiters, ``We're not going to tolerate your way of life,''
    that we need to give them all the tools necessary to do their jobs. And
    this bill I'm going to sign here in 30 seconds does just that.
        Again, I want to thank you all for being here to help honor these
    legislators that crossed the partisan divide to help protect this
    country from those who feel like they can sell illegal products and
    counterfeit and steal our--steal intellectual property. Good work.
    Thanks for coming. Now let's sign the bill.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:07 p.m. in Room 350 of the Dwight D.
    Eisenhower Executive Office Building. H.R. 32, approved March 16, was
    assigned Public Law No. 109-181.