ENFORCEMENT

While seeking to be thorough, the Strategic Plan
does not attempt to provide an exhaustive analysis of
all concerns that might be implicated by the unlawful
misappropriation or use of intellectual property in all
its forms. The issues are vast and constantly evolving
in scope and complexity, and additional work will be
required to continue to further develop and advance
the direction laid out in this Strategic Plan. The U.S.
Interagency Strategic Planning Committees on IP
Enforcement have focused on collecting information
and empirics to fashion and implement effective IP
enforcement strategies, so we collectively can do
more of what works and less of what does not work. In
doing so, we are mindful that the Joint Strategic Plan
may identify some problems with no immediately clear
or comprehensive solution. In those instances, the
problem-definition process should be viewed as a useful
step to generate innovative thinking and solutions over
the life of the plan.
The way people use and access content – which has
led to new and innovative uses of media (e.g., remixes
and mashups involving music, video and the visual arts),
and fair use, for example – will undoubtedly continue to
evolve. We must work to foster creativity, understanding
the role of exceptions and limitations as not only part of
our body of laws, but as an important part of our culture.
Indeed, it is the combination of strong copyright rights
with a balance between the protection of rights and
exceptions and limitations that encourages creativity,
promotes innovation, and ensures our freedom of speech
and creative expression are respected.
IP enforcement options must be crafted to allow
for effective measures against actors that unlawfully
prey on the works of rights holders, while ensuring that
enforcement activities do not affect lawful activity.
Enhanced Private Sector Leadership and Public-
Private Collaboration
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A Note on Copyright Infringement
The term “piracy” describes the misappropriation
and unlawful infringement of protected works, such as
movies, television broadcasts, music, books, and other
creative works. Without proper context, piracy may be
misconstrued in the policy arena. For purposes of this
Strategic Plan, discussions around “piracy” in the digital
environment are focused on large-scale illicit business
models that have been designed to intentionally and
unlawfully infringe third-party copyrighted content,
often for commercial gain. The Strategic Plan does not
propose broad Federal enforcement in order to address
any and all acts that may be deemed infringing. Rather,
the Strategic Plan focuses more narrowly on actors
that engage in a deliberate targeting and unlawful
infringement of protected works. The Strategic Plan also
calls attention to large-scale infringement on legitimate
online platforms by illicit actors, and the need for new
strategies and enhanced corporate leadership to address
such acts.
Nothing herein should be interpreted as limiting
the scope of exceptions and limitations, such as fair
use, under U.S. copyright law. To the contrary, the basic
principles that have permitted the Internet to thrive
must be safeguarded, and the Strategic Plan expressly
recognizes and celebrates advancements in technology.
Legitimate actors in the trade environment operate
under the principle that the criminal exploitation of
their respective businesses’ services or platforms is
unacceptable. No business, however, is immune to
such exploitation of its services, and no single entity or
industry can effectively tackle these threats alone. The
digital age has altered the manner in which syndicates
can and do work to inflict serious harm (from selling fake
medicines or automotive air bags online to delivering
malware to unsuspecting online shoppers), including
through the exploitation of intermediary services and
platforms. In light of the seriousness and magnitude
of the illicit activities in the online and traditional
environments, enhanced private sector leadership
remains important to ensure a sustained and focused
approach to minimize these growing threats.
This Strategic Plan has identified numerous
circumstances where enhanced non-governmental
leadership and public-private sector collaborations
may yield beneficial results. Over the past few years,
for example, several private-sector-led collaborative
partnerships have emerged—comprised of leading
Internet service providers, content producers, and
brand owners, payment processors, advertisers, and ad
networks, domain name registries, and others—with the
laudable goal of minimizing the criminal exploitation
of a business’s services or platforms by syndicates
perpetrating consumer frauds and other illicit activities.
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