The United States Department of Justice recently announced the formation of a new Task Force on Intellectual Property as part of a Department-wide initiative to confront the growing number of domestic and international intellectual property crimes.
Commenting on this announcement, President and Chairman of the Board of ASCAP, Paul Williams, said: "We at ASCAP commend the U.S. Justice Department for the formation of this new Task Force. The Department is right to acknowledge that the growth of intellectual property crime threatens the economic well-being of the nation. And in regards to ASCAP's 375,000 members, the theft of their creative work seriously impacts their ability to make a viable living from creating music. This in turn has terrible implications for our culture. The cross-department collaboration built into the new Task Force model will go a long way toward increasing the effectiveness of the U.S. government's response to intellectual property crimes."
