News

President George W. Bush has created a new senior level position, aimed at combating the global counterfeiting and piracy of American intellectual property—a category that encompasses everything from copies of Hollywood films to faked auto parts. The new IP czar will be Chris Israel, currently deputy chief of staff for Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

Israel served as deputy director of international public policy for AOL Time Warner and as a senior public policy analyst for Time Warner, Inc. from 1997 until joining the Commerce Department in 2001. Mr. Israel also has Congressional experience, having served as a legislative aide to Representative Jan Meyers (R-KS) and Representative Todd Tiahrt (R-KS). It is commonly thought that Israel's first priority will be China, where, it is estimated, as much as 90% of movies and music discs are unauthorized copies. On Secretary Gutierrez' July visit to China, The Washington Post reports, he was offered a pirated copy of The Revenge of the Sith, which has not yet been released on DVD, for approximately 8 yuan ($1). "Frankly, our goal is to reduce [China's piracy levels] to zero," Gutierrez said.

The Commerce Department estimates that nearly 7% of the products in the global market are counterfeit.

Mr. Israel's new position is essentially that of chief copyright law enforcement officer, one who can coordinate the law enforcement drive to stop international copyright infringement. Currently, intellectual property law enforcement is the responsibility of a farrago of different agencies, including the Library of Congress, the Justice Department, the State Department, and US Trade Representatives.