The Hill News

America has become an international leader in innovation and a hotbed for industries, job creators, artists and new thinkers of all kinds. Spanning from the music to manufacturing to technology sectors, America has a significant interest in keeping our companies and creators viable and open for business. Unfortunately, there is a stealthy menace seeking to rob our nation of the ingenuity for which we are so well known. 

The property rights of American businesses and artists are under assault by foreign rogue sites, websites dedicated to the theft of intellectual property. This property, embodied in trademarks and copyrights, is being stolen en masse by cyber criminals and resold to unsuspecting consumers, oftentimes at their own risk. 

Rogue websites have a history of taking from Americans. Through the 53 billion site visits that they attract per year, these illegal online retailers have cost legitimate businesses $135 billion in revenues and contribute! to the loss of 2.5 million jobs in the G-20 economies. Nationally, 19 million Americans depend on IP-intensive industries for stable, secure employment opportunities. Rogue sites seek to undermine the ability of these industries to create jobs, by ripping off and reselling entertainment, technologies, pharmaceuticals, or consumer products, all without following the laws, contributing taxes, or providing jobs to those whose innovation and creativity made the products so popular in the first place. 

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