Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez Announces USPTO-Related IPR Initiatives

U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez this week unveiled new Bush
administration initiatives to fight intellectual property theft. The new
initiatives include the appointment of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Experts in key overseas countries including Brazil, China, India and
Russia, a new Small Business Outreach program to educate U.S. small
businesses on how to protect their intellectual property rights, and a
Global Intellectual Property Academy that will provide training programs
for foreign government officials on global IPR issues.



"The protection of intellectual property is vital to our economic growth
and global competitiveness and it has major consequences in our ongoing
effort to promote security and stability around the world," Gutierrez said.
"The Bush administration is committed to stopping trade in pirated and
counterfeit goods. Theft of intellectual property is not tolerated and will
not be tolerated."



The small business outreach initiative includes a Web site;
www.stopfakes.gov/smallbusiness that is specifically designed to answer
common questions of small business so they can better identify and address
their IP protection needs. Additionally, the Department of Commerce is
working closely with organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and
the National Association of Manufacturers to help spread the word about the
benefits of filing for IP protection both domestically and abroad.



Informational materials have been developed that can be downloaded off the
Web site to help small businesses through the often complicated world of
intellectual property protection. Small businesses are also being alerted
to the resources available to them through advertising on Web sites they
commonly turns to, such as Inc. Magazine.



The USPTO will continue to hold small-business outreach seminars all across
the country to give Americans face-to-face contact with government IP
experts. The next seminar will be held this coming Monday and Tuesday in
Miami, FL.



The IPR experts in embassies will advocate for U.S. intellectual property
policy and interests, conduct training on IPR matters and assist U.S.
businesses. The program builds on the success of previous IPR expert
postings in Geneva, Switzerland and China.



The Global IPR Academy is an aggressive expansion of existing training,
technical assistance and capacity-building programs of the USPTO. The
expanded academy will offer a full catalogue of both general overview
courses and ones more focused on a variety of specialized IPR topics. It
will be located at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia.


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