U.S. Secretary of IP Protection Needed?
NBC's top lawyer spoke to the American Bar Association's annual intellectual property conference on Friday where he suggested a unique government solution for cracking down on piracy and counterfeiting -- a Cabinet-level IP czar. Richard Cotton lauded the work done by the Bush administration's current IP chief, Chris Israel, whose home-base is the Commerce Department.
Naming a senior level official in charge of IP coordination and enforcement "begins to send the message that needs to be sent in terms of the level of resources and leadership required," Cotton said. That commitment needs to be expressed across federal, state and local governments, he said during his luncheon keynote.
Another idea he tossed out is the formation of a federal block grant program for local jurisdictions to develop model IP crime-fighting approaches. The initiative could take the form of a $20 million, five-city pilot project, he said. NBC is already working in communities where it has affiliates to step up local IP enforcement, he noted.
Read more about the ABA IP conference in Technology Daily's PM edition.
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus