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Getting Our Security Badges for Entry into Government Building
Dennis Forbes, USPTO Photographer

How does Congress help stop piracy and counterfeiting? First, you need to know the difference between the two.  Piracy refers to copying movies, books, and songs without the creator’s permission.  Counterfeiting refers to the copying of goods like handbags and jeans and selling them. 

The United States Constitution (Article 1, Section 8) gives Congress, the law-making branch of government, the right to make laws regarding the protection of property.  Congress passed the first patent law on April 10, 1790 and created the United States Patent Office in 1836 to act on behalf of the government in granting patents.

Congress has enacted legislation to help prevent piracy and protect patent owners from getting their intellectual property stolen. It has also passed laws to prevent counterfeit trademark crimes.  This refers to copyrighting designer goods and selling them as fakes.

Why are laws needed? Some people will do something they know is wrong especially if there are no consequences. By having laws, people know what will happen if they disobey the law. These consequences or punishments are called criminal sanctions, and they help prevent people from committing crimes.

Laws are also needed to promote new discoveries, which lead to new businesses being created, which in turn leads to more jobs for a country’s labor (work) force. Protection laws act as a reward to promote investing in new research and new technologies that will benefit the country's population by leading to newly made inventions that make life safer and easier. 

Just like laws are needed to protect your physical property like your car from being stolen, laws are also needed to protect intellectual property.  Creators of intellectual property cannot install an alarm that will protect these creative ideas. They need the same protection as citizens who own physical property. 

In the last decade studies indicate that over 50% of the goods leaving the U.S (exports) were products that were patented. In India where there were few laws to protect intellectual property, many scientists and inventors left the country to live in a country where their work is protected. India realized its mistake and the Parliament(their law-making branch of government)finally passed a law in 1999 that supported the protection of intellectual property.  Now India has a booming economy in the field of technology and software. As you can see, strong support for protecting intellectual property helps support a country’s economy. American laws protect citizens and their property in this country only.

Congress has entered into international treaties that further protect patent holders' rights outside of the United States. Next you will learn how the United States government tries to provide protection for patent holders in other countries.

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