Department of Justice Seal Department of Justice
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2005
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
AG
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO R. GONZALES ANNOUNCES
APPOINTMENTS TO INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TASK FORCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today announced the appointment of several high-level Department of Justice officials to serve on the Department’s Task Force on Intellectual Property.

The Task Force was created in 2004 by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to examine the Department’s efforts to protect the intellectual property rights of American citizens and businesses through criminal, civil, and antitrust enforcement; legislation; international coordination; and prevention. In October 2004, the Task Force issued a comprehensive report with recommendations to increase the Department’s effectiveness in protecting intellectual property rights and enforcing federal intellectual property laws.

In February 2005, Attorney General Gonzales renewed the Department’s commitment to the IP Task Force and appointed Kyle Sampson as Chairman and Arif Alikhan as Vice Chairman and Executive Director. The Attorney General also announced that the Department would implement all of the IP Task Force report’s recommendations and would continue to aggressively enforce federal intellectual property laws.

The Attorney General has appointed the following Department of Justice officials to serve on the Intellectual Property Task Force:

Thomas Barnett, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division Michael Battle, Director, Executive Office of United States Attorneys Rachel Brand, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy Paul Clement, Solicitor General of the United States Alice Fisher, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division Neil Gorsuch, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General, Office of the Associate Attorney General Peter Keisler, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division William Moschella, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs Louis Reigel, Assistant Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cyber Division Debra Wong Yang, United States Attorney, Central District of California, and Chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Subcommittee on Cyber Crime and Intellectual Property.

“I appreciate the Attorney General appointing me to take on this important role for the Department and appointing such talented members of the Department to serve on the IP Task Force,” said Kyle Sampson. “I look forward to working closely with all of the members to implement the recommendations and address the evolving challenges of intellectual property crime in the global marketplace.”

Copies of the report of the Department of Justice’s Task Force on Intellectual Property are available on the Department’s website at www.usdoj.gov or at www.cybercrime.gov . For more information regarding the Intellectual Property Task Force, contact Vice Chairman and Executive Director Arif Alikhan at Arif.Alikhan2@usdoj.gov.

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