Lawmakers look to accelerate fight against IP piracy: Proposal calls for more cooperation, national network
U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh need look no further than his home state of Indiana when recounting the scores of companies victimized by intellectual property thieves. The product designs, brand names and copyrighted material stolen by foreign firms to make counterfeit knockoffs likely are costing Hoosier companies millions of dollars annually. Nationally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates the figure to be $250 billion a year. The pervasiveness of the theft-counterfeiting has increased 10,000 percent during the past two decades-has prompted…