Recently, grants totaling more than $1.98 million were announced that will help fund efforts to enforce criminal intellectual property laws.
The grants given by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs will go toward funding a number of aspects of criminal intellectual property enforcement, including investigations, prosecutions, prevention and training.
"This funding is important in identifying and stopping criminal activity associated with intellectual property piracy," Laurie Robinson, acting assistant attorney general for the OJP, said. "These criminal activities are a threat to our national well being and insult those who create and develop products, goods and services for the benefit of the general public."
The funding provided by the grants will help further cooperation between different levels of law enforcement from the federal to the local level. That cooperation will allow further information sharing regarding investigations, prosecutions and analysis.
There are a number of categories involved in the grants. One category is law enforcement support, where grant money can be used to reimburse costs involving the investigation of intellectual property law violations. Grants in this realm can also be used to establish task forces and to acquire needed equipment. Some grant recipients in this category include the city of New York and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Another category for grants involves training and technical assistance, which can go to developing a curriculum and classes across the country. Some of the methods include electronically-based training, roll call training, and academy-based training for all levels of law enforcement members. Funds for this category also can help identify new trends in intellectual property crimes. Both the National Association of Attorneys General and the National White Collar Crime Center received money through this category.
Along with the grants, the government also has a special center that deals with intellectual property rights. The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center combines the efforts of a number of agencies in dealing with intellectual property crimes.