BizTech Law Blog

A Little Known Secret to the War on IP Piracy – that is Free

How would you like to have the weight of the U.S. Federal Government behind you in combating piracy of your product?  And how would you like to have it for free?  If you answered no to both, perhaps you should reevaluate your business acumen.  For those who answered in the affirmative, please read on.

The free service is offered through the Office of Intellectual Property Rights (OIPR) of the U.S. Department of Commerce.  OIPR can assist your company in combating intellectual property piracy of your products.  After you have secured your intellectual property protections at home and abroad and taken local enforcement steps through the administrative or legal process, OIPR will step in on your behalf and work with the foreign government to target, confiscate and destroy the piracy items.

Prior to formally stepping in and working with the foreign government, OIPR can also provide businesses with valuable information on how to navigate a foreign government's legal system as well as provide lists of local investigative firms and country specific techniques to resolve the dispute.   OIPR also provides Intellectual Property Tool Kits – to assist businesses in identifying their intellectual property assets and how to effectively protect those assets.

The OIPR representatives are very approachable and one was here in mid-Michigan recently in which we gave a joint presentation about effectively protecting and enforcing your intellectual property rights.  To learn more about this tremendous and "cost-effective" service, as well as a link to their outstanding resources and information please visit https://www.stopfakes.gov/welcome or contact me to provide the direct dial to an OIPR representative.

Categories: Intellectual Property, Privacy, Trademarks