Today business and entertainment groups called on a government to address piracy and counterfeiting claiming that "our law enforcement resources are seriously misaligned. If you add up all the various kinds of property crimes in this country, everything from theft, to fraud, to burglary, bank-robbing, all of it, it costs the country $16 billion a year. But intellectual property crime runs to hundreds of billions [of dollars] a year." The groups unveiled a six-point plan that includes:
- increasing investigative and enforcement resources;
- strengthening enforcement of counterfeiting laws at borders;
- increasing penalties for trafficking in counterfeit and pirated goods;
- improving federal coordination of IP enforcement efforts;
- reforming civil and judicial processes to combat organized criminal trafficking; and
- consumer education.
The country?
