Congressman Blackburn Continues Fight Against Intellectual Property Piracy

Press Release

Congressman Blackburn Continues Fight Against Intellectual Property Piracy

Blackburn Joins USTR Ambassador Susan Schwab, Foreign Ambassadors at Anti-Piracy Press Conference

Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn today joined with fellow Members of Congress, United States Trade Representative Ambassador Susan Schwab, and Ambassadors from several countries on Capitol Hill today to announce the United States and some of its key trading partners will seek to negotiate an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

"The largest concentration of songwriters in America are in my district and the issue of intellectual property piracy has a significant impact to my constituents," Blackburn said. "Every time a song is illegally downloaded or swapped, its money out of their pockets. Considering that in 2005 alone nearly 20 billion songs were illegally downloaded, this is grand larceny amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars in stolen property.

"It's great to see so many representatives from our trading partners joining us today, because while we are committed to taking a strong stand to protect our intellectual property, we cannot do it alone -- we need the willing participation of the international community."

Participating countries will develop a framework to address three main areas by strengthening international cooperation, improving enforcement practices, and providing a strong legal framework for IPR enforcement.

Trading partners engaged in discussions so far include Canada, the European Union (with its 27 Member States), Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, and Switzerland.

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