FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AG

MONDAY, MAY 14, 2007 (202) 514-2007

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

Justice Department Focuses on Efforts

to Protect Intellectual Property Rights
Attorney General Urges Congress to Enact
Important New Legislation
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today highlighted the
Justice Department’s ongoing efforts to protect intellectual property rights, and
announced a comprehensive legislative proposal entitled the “Intellectual Property
Protection Act of 2007,” before members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy.

In addition to the proposed legislation, the Department’s ongoing commitment to

combating intellectual property includes measures for implementing valuable
resources, and aggressively prosecuting counterfeiters, each elements of the
government-wide Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP) Initiative.

Implementing Resources to Protect Intellectual Property Rights

In June 2006, the Department’s Task Force on Intellectual Property issued a
Progress Report outlining its progress in implementing 31 recommendations to
improve IP protection. The task force’s recommendations, and additional
Department efforts include the following:

An improved focus on international outreach and capacity-building efforts. In

2006 alone, prosecutors in the Criminal Division trained over 3,000
prosecutors, investigators, and judges from 107 countries; established an IP
Law Enforcement Coordinator for Asia in Bangkok, Thailand; and secured
funding to establish a second IPLEC position for Eastern Europe in Sofia,
Bulgaria.

Expansion of the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP)

network of federal prosecutors dedicated to the prosecution of high-tech and
IP crime. The total number of CHIP prosecutors has increased to 230 (with at
least one in each U.S. Attorney’s Office), and the number of specialized
CHIP Units has nearly doubled in the past two years to 25 cities nationwide.
 Focused outreach to the private sector. The Department has hosted a series of
training conferences for IP rights holders that educate them on, among other
things, the investigation and prosecution of federal IP cases, the parameters
for permissible cooperation and assistance in federal investigations by private
rights holders, and procedures and tips for how best to report criminal
violations of the copyright, trademark, and trade secret laws. Additional
conferences are planned for 2007.

Effectively Prosecuting IP Thieves and Counterfeiters

The Department_s Criminal Division, along with U.S. Attorneys Offices across the
country in the past few years, have developed a strong record of prosecuting
violators of existing IP law, which includes:

Substantial increases in federal investigations and prosecutions of IP

violations, including:
In 2006, the Department convicted 57% more defendants of criminal
copyright and trademark offenses than in 2005;
In 2005, the Department prosecuted nearly twice as many defendants as
it had in 2004;
The FBI arrested 40 percent more defendants in IP cases in 2006 than it
had the previous year.

Criminal Division prosecutors have obtained pleas or sentences in 22 separate

intellectual property cases, in the last four weeks alone.

A number of successful operations in recent years. These include Operation

FastLink, the largest and most successful global online piracy enforcement
initiative ever conducted, which has resulted in the execution of more than
120 searches and arrests in 12 countries, the seizure of more than 200
computers, the complete dismantlement of 30 Internet distribution sites, and
the confiscation of hundreds of thousands of counterfeit software titles valued
at more than $50 million. To date, Operation Fastlink has obtained 50 total
convictions, a milestone never before achieved in an online piracy
prosecution.

Other recent prosecutions by the Criminal Division have included the first
ever plea of an individual extradited from a foreign country for online
software piracy; the conviction of four men who sold more than $19 million
in counterfeit software on eBay; and the sentencing of a Utah man to 24
months_ imprisonment for operating a for-profit piracy website that caused up
to $2.5 million in losses to the software industry.

The Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007

Today the Department submitted to Congress the Intellectual Property Protection
Act of 2007 that would enhance the Department_s ability to prosecute crimes and
protect the intellectual property rights of citizens and industries. Among its many
provisions, the Act includes measures that would:

Increase the maximum penalty for counterfeiting offenses from 10 years to 20

years imprisonment where the defendant knowingly or recklessly causes or
attempts to cause serious bodily injury, and increase the maximum penalty to
life imprisonment where the defendant knowingly or recklessly causes or
attempts to cause death;

Provide stronger penalties for repeat-offenders of the copyright laws;

Implement broad forfeiture reforms to ensure the ability to forfeit property

derived from or used in the commission of criminal intellectual property
offenses;

Strengthen restitution provisions for certain intellectual property crimes (e.g.,

criminal copyright and DMCA offenses);

Ensure that the exportation and transhipment of copyright-infringing goods is

a crime, just as the exportation of counterfeit goods is now criminal.

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