Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement Statement on the Executive Order Entitled “Imposing Additional Sanctions with Respect to North Korea” “We take seriously North Korea’s attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression.” The White House (Jan. 2, 2015) SECTION 1 bags and cigarettes; the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (the FARC), which reportedly found the sale of pirated discs more profitable than the ransom kidnappings for which it is more notorious; and across the tribal belt of Pakistan, it is reported that Taliban militias collect money from cigarette smugglers in exchange for allowing counterfeit and illicit tobacco into Afghanistan and China. 140,141 The convergence of intellectual property crime and illicit actors is not just limited to TOC or terroristaffiliated groups, but also extends to nation-state actors. For example, it was widely reported that North Korea facilitated the distribution of large volumes of counterfeit pharmaceuticals and cigarettes as a means to generate hard currency due to the state of sanctions; the country was also identified as sponsoring the crippling cyber-attacks against Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014—an attack that deleted files from corporate hard drives, uploaded several unreleased films to the Internet, and leaked sensitive personal information regarding thousands of Sony employees. 142 When state-sponsored malicious cyber actors target confidential business information and proprietary works and technologies for commercial gain, they put businesses and our national interests at risk. Similarly, when counterfeit goods such as fake computer and networking devices infiltrate global supply chains, they place the reliability of our communications and transportation networks at risk and introduce threats and vulnerabilities that could impact national security, while fake pharmaceuticals, electrical components, aircraft and automobile parts and other goods undermine public safety and other National interests. 143 At this time, interested stakeholders such as industry associations, international organiza tions, news media, public interest groups, and academia may not be in a position to assess how widespread the convergence may be between intellectual property crime and TOC and/or terror-supporting entities. As a result, there is an opportunity to systematically collect and make more of this type of information available, in an appropriate manner, in order to raise awareness and understanding of IP crime and its links to serious crime and terror organizations, and to facilitate and improve the exchange of information and intelligence on IP crimes such as counterfeiting and piracy between the public and private sectors. See the Call for Research at the end of Section IV of this Strategic Plan for further discussion of related data and research needs. The convergence between intellectual propertybased crimes, transnational organized crime, and terrorist financing undermines the strength and security of democratic regimes by allowing illicit actors, for example, to forge alliances with corrupt foreign government officials, or otherwise destabilize political, financial, and security institutions in fragile states. Terrorists and insurgents increasingly turn to these criminal networks to generate funding and acquire logistical support. 144 Put simply, the exploitation of intellectual property rights by criminal syndicates appears to be posing an increasing threat to National and global security interests. This Strategic Plan addresses the issues discussed above by proposing improvements to the enforcement of domestic IP rights, cooperation with foreign governments, use of trade tools, and voluntary privatesector best practices (consistent with the antitrust laws), to name a few, while being mindful that these issues are complex and ever-changing. The following sections seek to build on what already has been accomplished, while continuing to look ahead. Now, more than ever, it is important that the public, law enforcement officials, policy makers, and all other stakeholders remain vigilant against the mounting threats from entities that seek to unlawfully misappropriate and exploit the intellectual property interests belonging to others. 44
Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator THIS PAGE IS INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK SECTION 1 45
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