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Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez Announces USPTO-Related IPR Initiatives

Posted by J Matthew Buchanan at September 24, 2005 07:08 AM

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.”

stopfakes.gov logo 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.

brochures 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.

conference on intellectual property 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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