NEW YORK, April 16 (UPI) -- Headway in fighting copyright piracy won't be gained until the U.S. government establishes a Cabinet-level post, the NBC Universal general counsel said.
"Putting leadership for this in the White House will send a message that needs to be sent about the level of resources and commitment required" to fend off the hijacking of intellectual property, NBC Universal general counsel Rick Cotton said during an American Bar Association meeting in New York, Variety reported.
Cotton said intellectual property theft losses for all copyright and trademark industries have "skyrocketed into the many hundreds of billions of dollars" over what it was in the early 1990s.
In addition to making IP counterfeiting a Cabinet-level concern, greater attention needs to be paid to the issue at state and local level, as well as in private industry, he said.
Additionally, law enforcement against piracy must be beefed up, Cotton said. Among other things, he suggested the Department of Justice should increase staffing of its computer hacking and IP units, and that intellectual property courts with judges experienced in IP law be created.
