1. Brand Protection Council August 14, 2007 Recent Activities In and Outside of Washington June 18 – Senator Levin held a press briefing in Michigan on counterfeiting. BPC members provided samples and other input for that event. June 13 – Made presentation at the US Patent and Trademark Office – WIPO training for foreign officials. July 11 – Made presentation at the US Patent and Trademark Office training for US officials. July 25 – Meeting with the Federal IPR Enforcement Coordinator

2. Brand Protection Council August 14, 2007 Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Act S. 522 The Bayh-Voinovich Bill Work is on track, but has hit some snags – opposition from the Administration and lack of support from music, movie and business software industries. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) Yahoo!, EBay, are getting active defending their interests. ISPs, music, movie and business software industries have invested very heavily for years on IPR. That hurts manufacturers when our interests don’t agree with theirs.

3. Brand Protection Council August 14, 2007 Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Act S. 522 The Bayh-Voinovich Bill Applies lessons learned from the fight against international money laundering to combat counterfeiting and piracy. Improve coordination and communication among agencies. Make OMB the lead agency. Commerce fills that role under the current system. Bring in the assets of US Treasury, Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Build a group of law enforcement officials from like-minded countries who adhere to high standards of IPR protection to deal collectively with countries who have poor IPR protection. TRIPs and Interpol cannot fill this role since states providing poor protection have the same vote as the US, EU and Japan. Increased Congressional oversight. Oversight under the current system has been lax.

4. Brand Protection Council August 14, 2007 Other Federal Lobbying Activity: Seek more “user-friendly” operations and increased resources for Department of Justice and Customs Border Protection field agents and technology dedicated to IPR enforcement. MEMA will continue to refer to operational problems outlined in the BPC White Paper on Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The casework process is opaque Reporting on investigation status is not built into the casework process One-way communication is a problem. Senator Levin used BPC comments to write a letter to Secretary Chertoff of the Department of Homeland Security. We’ll keep you posted. No immediate action required. MEMA Washington Office can help you on individual service problems with the agency if you would like our assistance.

5. Brand Protection Council August 14, 2007 Model State Anti-Counterfeiting Statute – Model statute proposed by the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC). This is an on-going project. Targeting Missouri, Arizona, Tennessee, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Bring State penalties for counterfeiting in line with Federal Standards Enhanced Penalties for crimes involving threats to health, safety and welfare Mandatory forfeiture, destruction and restitution No member action required at this time, but perhaps in the future. IACC is driving this project.