The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and US Vice President Joe Biden announced the Obama administration's Joint Strategic Plan for Intellectual Property (IPR) Enforcement-a multi-agency effort to enhance intellectual property protection by strengthening efforts to combat civil and criminal violations of trademark and copyright infringement.

"The products of American ingenuity-from life-saving medicines and vaccines to state of the art technologies-fuel our nation's progress and economy," said Secretary Napolitano. "DHS is committed to disrupting and dismantling the criminal organizations that promote counterfeiting and piracy that threaten the livelihoods of American businesses and workers."

The full plan calls for improved communication between law enforcement and rights holders, industry, and international partners and the general public; enhanced international and domestic IPR cooperation; close collaboration with the importing community to find effective, cooperative solutions; dedicating resources to building and improving data collection for enforcement of IPR laws; a secure supply chain and improved data collection-and will utilize the IPR resources currently employed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the U.S. Secret Service.