Att. General: Piracy funds terrorism
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - March 28, 2008 In remarks to Silicon Valley executives at the Tech Museum of
Innovation, Mukasey said the economy and national security of the
United States are increasingly threatened by violations involving
copyrighted software code, patented inventions and trademarked
properties.
Terror groups are taking their cues from organized crime and
increasingly funding their operations from counterfeiting and
piracy, he said.
Mukasey said his department is devoting more resources to
prosecuting intellectual property crimes, which led to a 7 percent
increase in the number of IP cases filed in 2007 over the year
before and a 33 percent increase over 2005.
"Criminal syndicates, and in some cases even terrorist groups,
view IP crime as a lucrative business and see it as a low-risk way
to fund other activities," Mukasey said. "A primary goal of our
IP enforcement mission is to show these criminals that they're
wrong."
Before Friday's speech, he met privately with representatives
from companies including Apple Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc.
Mukasey did not elaborate on the topics discussed in that
meeting. The attorney general also met with entertainment industry
executives in Los Angeles a day earlier during this three-day
California trip, and did not discuss those talks.