President Bush signed the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property (PRO IP) Act. This legislation helps protect the rights of America's consumers, workers, and entrepreneurs by strengthening both our civil and criminal laws against counterfeiting and piracy. Specifically, the Act increases statutory damage awards in civil counterfeiting cases, it strengthens remedies available in the prosecution of criminal cases involving counterfeiting and piracy, it enhances resources (personnel, training, and equipment) for Department of Justice programs that combat IP theft, and makes permanent the Administration’s Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!) Initiative and its inter-agency IP coordination efforts.
Read the full press release here.