White House establishes intellectual property advisory committees

President Obama issued an executive order late on Tuesday establishing two interagency advisory committees to oversee the administration's enforcement of intellectual property laws.

A senior advisory committee composed of members of the president's Cabinet will help update the government-wide strategy for IP enforcement as mandated by law. A second advisory committee will help coordinate enforcement efforts by the administration.

Both committees will be chaired by Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel.

"“I am pleased that the President has established a series of Intellectual Property Enforcement Advisory Committees, including the committee required by the PRO-IP Act," said Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

"Protecting American intellectual property is critical to our efforts to promote the innovation that will help grow our economy.”

"The Chamber would like to applaud the efforts of Espinel and her stewardship of the IPEC office in not only ensuring the formation of an interagency advisory committee, as mandated by the PRO-IP Act, but also going a step further in the formation of a separate cabinet level advisory committee," said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in a statement.

"The [Chamber's Global Intellectual Property Center] sees this action as a proactive measure in showing the White House’s elevated commitment to this pressing issue."

The administration has stepped up intellectual property enforcement in recent months, highlighted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement seizing a number of domain names believed to be trafficking in pirated materials. The White House has correspondingly framed online piracy as a rising threat to American jobs.