Place Your Bets... Prospects List Grows For IP Czar Job
Academics, industry executives, congressional aides and high-profile attorneys are among those whose names are swirling as potential candidates for the high-level White House job to oversee government-wide anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting efforts in Barack Obama's administration. The position was written into a broader intellectual property bill sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking member Arlen Specter along with Sens. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and George Voinovich, R-Ohio. President Bush signed the legislation last month.
Leahy will offer a list of names to Obama's transition team, but the post is viewed as "second-tier" -- one that will be addressed after Cabinet and other major nominations are made. Leahy's picks will be "pretty weighty," one source said, noting that he was one of several senators to endorse Obama over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., early in the Democratic primaries. Victoria Espinel, a Democrat who served as the first assistant trade representative for intellectual property, a position created by Trade Representative Susan Schwab in 2006, is a likely contender. Read CongressDaily for details on other names that have been floated...
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