Other U.S. Government agencies bring foreign government and private sector representatives to the United States on study tours to meet with IPR professionals and to visit the institutions and businesses responsible for developing, protecting, and promoting IPR in the United States. One such program is the Department of State's International Visitors Leadership Program, which brings groups from around the world to cities across the United States to learn more about IPR and related trade and business issues. In addition, U.S. Government agencies, such as the Department of State and the Copyright Office, conduct conferences and training symposia in Washington, D.C..
Overseas, the U.S. Government is also active in partnering to provide training, technical assistance, capacity building, exchange of best practices, and other collaborative activities to improve IPR protection and enforcement. For example:
- In 2011, GIPA provided training to over 5,300 foreign IP officials from 138 countries, through 149 separate programs. Attendees included IPR policy makers, judges, prosecutors, customs officers, and examiners, and training topics covered the entire spectrum of IPR. Post-training surveys demonstrated that 79 percent of all attendees reported that they had taken some steps to implement positive policy change in their respective organizations.
- In addition, the USPTO's Office of Policy and External Affairs provides capacity building in countries around the world, and has concluded agreements with more than 40 national, regional, and international IPR organizations, such as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), and Interpol, to partner on IPR training activities. These partnerships help ensure that capacity building and training efforts are demand-driven and meet the particular needs of each organization and trading partner.
- The Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration (ITA) collaborates with the private sector to develop programs to heighten the awareness of the dangers of counterfeit products and of the economic value of IPR to national economies. Additionally, ITA develops and shares small business tools to help domestic and foreign businesses understand IPR.
- In 2011, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) conducted regional border training programs that focused on IPR enforcement in Morocco, El Salvador, Thailand and India. Also in 2011, the National IPR Coordination Center, in conjunction with Interpol, conducted training programs in 11 countries, and also conducted three advanced IPR training sessions at the U.S. International Law Enforcement Academies (ILEAs) in Thailand and El Salvador for participants from 22 countries.
- The Department of State provides training funds each year to U.S. Government agencies that provide IPR enforcement training and technical assistance to foreign governments. The agencies that provide such training include the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ),
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