The Business Software Alliance (BSA) praised the Obama administration for developing the country's first joint strategic plan to enforce intellectual property rights. Announced by Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel, the strategy marshals the collective knowledge and expertise of all federal agencies charged with enforcing IP rights, committing them to common goals so government can combat domestic and international infringement of software and other copyrighted products more efficiently and effectively.

 

"Intellectual property theft costs the software industry more than $50 billion a year," said BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman. "Since 60 cents of every dollar spent on software globally goes to American companies, illegal use of software products impedes US job creation and economic growth. Software is an essential tool of production in every sector. Stealing it gives companies in China and other countries an unfair cost advantage over their American counterparts that pay for software tools as they should."

 

In addition to clamping down on infringement in the private sector, the 2010 Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement commits the federal government to lead by example, undertaking a review of practices and policies to promote the use of only legal software by federal contractors.