From AAIA Capital Report
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI); ranking member Lamar Smith, (R-TX); and Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property Chairman Howard Berman, (D-CA), have introduced anti-counterfeiting legislation (H.R. 4279) that has won immediate praise from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The bill was introduced to tackle the problems being posed to the U.S. by counterfeiters. Specifically, H.R. 4279 would double the penalties for counterfeiters whose actions result in injury or death, would increase resources for enforcement at U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and create a permanent position at the White House dedicated to intellectual property protection.
Tom Donohue, president, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, commended the legislation as a "crucial and substantive step to finding real solutions to thwart the growing plague of global intellectual property theft." The bill has also received the support of more than 500 businesses and trade associations, as well as organized labor, according to Donohue.
