Leahy Applauds DOJ Action Against Counterfeiting

Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, released the following statement Monday following Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement of increased efforts to crack down on sites that sell or illegally distribute counterfeit goods or copyrighted material.

“The Obama administration’s commitment to aggressively protect American intellectual property is commendable.

Today’s announcement that the Department of Justice and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have seized the domain names associated with rogue websites, which were being used for criminal infringement and counterfeiting operations, demonstrates that commitment. 

The innovative use of the tools currently available to law enforcement to seize these domain names is similar to the remedy that would be specifically authorized under the bipartisan Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act for websites that are registered in the United States. 

That legislation received unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which advanced the bill to the full Senate by a vote of 19-0.  We can no longer sit on the sidelines while American intellectual property is stolen and sold online using our own infrastructure.  This costs American jobs, hurts our economy, and puts consumers at risk.”