IPC: U.S. Reaction to IP Theft 'Utterly Inadequate'

The U.S. response to hundreds of billions of dollars in intellectual property theft -- "hectoring governments and prosecuting individuals" -- has to date been "utterly inadequate to deal with the problem." That is according to a just-released report from the bipartisan Commission on the Theft of Intellectual Property (IPC), which can include everything from counterfeit hard goods -- pirated DVDs -- to a host of digital goods including TV and movie content.

The report found that IP theft is north of $300 billion annually, or about the equivalent of all U.S. imports to Asia. That is appropriate, since China remains the number one illegal exporter of U.S. intellectual property according to the report. The committee also calls IP theft the greatest wealth transfer in history, and one that costs millions of U.S. jobs.