White House Backs Industry Efforts to Fight Online Piracy, Counterfeiting

The White House has given support to a collaborative effort between the Interactive Advertising Bureau and eight companies aimed at adopting best practices to address online counterfeiting and piracy, Fedscoop reported Monday.

Colby Hochmuth writes companies such as Yahoo, Google and Microsoft agreed to limit their advertising spending on websites that offer pirated or counterfeit goods.

Victoria Espinel, the White House intellectual property enforcement coordinator, said in a blog post the effort is a “good example of how the public and private sector can work to combat piracy and counterfeiting while protecting and, in fact, further encouraging the innovation made possible by an open Internet.”

The support comes as the administration seeks ways to curb intellectual property infringement, according to the report.

Fedscoop reports the Office of Management and Budget recently launched a framework that outlines joint strategic IP enforcement plans for the next three years.

A House of Representatives subcommittee held a legislative hearing last week to determine how the federal government should address cybertheft.