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ENFORCEMENT

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Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator<br />

on established contracts to individual purchases from<br />

commercial catalogs.” 52 As a matter of law, and as<br />

a strong example for our trading partners and the<br />

international community, it is important that Federal<br />

agencies use software in accordance with applicable<br />

copyright protections and software licenses.<br />

The U.S. has prioritized this principle, as<br />

underscored by the Presidential executive order on<br />

“Computer Piracy” (E.O. 13103) 53 which sets forth<br />

“the policy of the United States Government that<br />

each executive agency shall work diligently to prevent<br />

and combat computer software piracy in order to<br />

give effect to copyrights associated with computer<br />

software.” In accord with this policy, the Executive<br />

Order directs each agency to ensure that “the<br />

agency does not acquire, reproduce, distribute, or<br />

transmit computer software in violation of applicable<br />

copyright laws” and that “the agency has present on<br />

its computers and uses only computer software not in<br />

violation of applicable copyright laws.”<br />

As part of the Administration’s “category<br />

management” initiative, OMB issued a policy in<br />

2016 to further enhance the Federal Government’s<br />

acquisition and management of software. 54 Issued<br />

jointly by the U.S. Chief Acquisition Officer and the U.S.<br />

Chief Information Officer, the policy leverages privatesector<br />

best practices to improve Federal Government<br />

processes.” 55 In addition to achieving taxpayer savings,<br />

operational efficiencies, and better performance, these<br />

improvements in how the U.S. buys and uses software<br />

will further ensure that Federal agencies comply with<br />

the terms of applicable software licenses. 56 Through<br />

the implementation of the category-management<br />

policy, and related policies 57 and statutes, 58 the Federal<br />

Government will strengthen the oversight of its<br />

acquisition and use of software, and thereby continue to<br />

ensure compliance with applicable copyright protections<br />

and licenses. Opportunities exist to promote these and<br />

other best practices with trading partners to minimize,<br />

and indeed, avoid, the use of unlicensed or pirated<br />

software or other copyrightable content.<br />

ACTION NO. 4.23: Support and promote<br />

government software licensing best practices.<br />

The U.S. Interagency Strategic Planning<br />

Committees on IP Enforcement, in consultation<br />

with the U.S. Chief Acquisition Officer, and the<br />

U.S. Chief Information Officer, and such other<br />

agencies and offices as may be appropriate,<br />

will assess opportunities to support enhanced<br />

accountability in Federal government software<br />

acquisition and licensing practices.<br />

H. CALLS FOR RESEARCH.<br />

Public policy is at its best when well-grounded in sound<br />

research and data. Given the profound technological<br />

and legal changes that have taken place over the past<br />

several years, it is critical that academics, researchers,<br />

the private sector, and others continue to rigorously<br />

study the IPR ecosystem to identify areas of concern,<br />

emerging trends, and opportunities for enhanced<br />

enforcement mechanisms.<br />

Research is needed into the precise nature and<br />

dimensions of the various challenges in IP enforcement<br />

in order to improve the effectiveness and targeting of<br />

policy, including legal reform, trade policy, and capacity<br />

building. By analyzing data and evidence, stakeholders<br />

will have increased power to identify and implement<br />

effective IPR. The United States, along with international<br />

partners, must continue to assess and adopt measures<br />

that prevent, protect, and provide effective remedies to<br />

address violations of intellectual property, including in<br />

the forms of commercial-scale piracy, trade secret theft,<br />

and trade in counterfeit goods.<br />

In order to do so, countries need to collect reliable<br />

statistics; accurately assess, in detail, the limitations,<br />

obstacles and impediments to effective IP enforcement;<br />

share best practices; and engage stakeholders and other<br />

experts to develop international guidelines to harmonize<br />

concepts, establish statistical definitions, and inform<br />

stakeholders and the public on the progress that is<br />

being made.<br />

Federal agencies, trade organizations, academic<br />

institutions, and the private sector all have roles to<br />

play in increasing the volume and quality of research<br />

in this area. Promising private sector initiatives include:<br />

technology and data analysis tools to conduct trend<br />

analysis and identify opportunities for effective,<br />

targeted solutions; research and collaborative efforts to<br />

promote cross-stakeholder collaboration and publicprivate<br />

partnership, particularly on information sharing;<br />

engagement of senior corporate leaders to promote<br />

enhanced corporate, social, and moral leadership<br />

SECTION 4<br />

143

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