CUSTOMS, FBI IPR CENTER HOLD INDUSTRY OUTREACH CONFERENCE

CUSTOMS, FBI IPR CENTER HOLD INDUSTRY OUTREACH CONFERENCE    U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Robert Bonner on Wednesday told attendees at a Customs and FBI-sponsored event that protecting intellectual property rights serves to protect commerce.
      Every year, businesses lose up to $250 billion from the importation and sale of counterfeit goods and the infringements of copyrights, trademarks and patents, Bonner said at the first conference of the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center in Washington.
   “The seriousness of intellectual property rights and the importance of protecting them is not always well understood,” Bonner said. “IPR theft undermines and saps the creativity that America is built upon.”
   The conference was held to underscore the IPR’s mission.
   Larry Medford, director of FBI’s Cyber division, said the National IPR Center, a multi-agency center coordinated to enforce IPR issues, will help businesses.
   The center collects, analyzes and disseminates intelligence involving copyright and trademark infringement, and theft of trade secrets, and is located at the U.S. Customs Service Center in Washington. The IPR Center’s Web address is at: https://www.customs.gov/iprcenter.