EVANS: “STRATEGY TARGETING ORGANIZED PIRACY CRACKS DOWN ON PIRATES WHO STEAL FROM AMERICAN WORKERS"
OCTOBER 4 - Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans today joined Ambassador Robert Zoellick, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Homeland Security Under Secretary Asa Hutchinson to focus on the Administration’s “Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy(STOP)” initiative. The initiative protects American businesses and their products from counterfeiters and pirates who are stealing from America’s workers and robbing billions from the U.S. economy.“For the past three years, the Bush Administration has aggressively worked to enforce intellectual property rights. Today’s STOP initiative allows us to leverage those efforts and new innovative solutions to better protect America’s intellectual property.” said Evans. “One of President Bush’s top economic priorities has been to put counterfeiters and pirates who tilt the playing field against American companies out of business. The STOP initiative gives American businesses clear steps to protect themselves from international counterfeiters and encourages businesses to adopt programs to insure that their supply chains are free from fakes.”(Full Release) (Full Speech) (Press Conference Transcript)