U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wisc.) and Roger Williams (R-Texas)co-authored a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting a comprehensive explanation on the Department of Justice's ongoing initiatives for safeguarding American small businesses from intellectual property (IP) theft by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
“Small businesses are on the front lines of the economic war that the Chinese Communist Party is waging against America," Gallagher, chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in a June 15 news release on the letter. "Chairman Williams and I look forward to learning more about the measures Attorney General Garland has in place to protect American businesses from the CCP’s intellectual property theft and what more Congress can do to protect small businesses from the CCP’s economic coercion."
The letter has a response deadline of June 30, according to a press release.
In the letter, Gallagher and Williams, the chairman of the House Committee on Small Business, underscored the significance of small businesses in the United States, labeling them as the “backbone of our economy.” They elaborated on the detrimental consequences that IP theft by the CCP can impose on small businesses. The Congressmen emphasized the need to prevent such theft as it can adversely impact the economy as a whole, according to the letter.
“Thanks to the efforts of the Chinese Communist Party, Main Street America is growing increasingly vulnerable to the intellectual property theft of cutting-edge technologies,” Williams said in the press release. “Chinese intellectual property theft is estimated to cost the taxpayer $600 billion per year. Congress must force the Biden Administration to do more in protecting our nation’s innovation and national security assets, and I look forward to working alongside Chairman Gallagher and our colleagues to protect American small businesses and hold China accountable for their crimes.”
Gallagher and Williams asked the DOJ to furnish specific examples of their efforts in combating IP theft by the CCP in the letter, specifically on how the DOJ is protecting small businesses from IP theft. The lawmakers ask for a detailed description of repercussions the CCP could face if it engages in IP theft. Additionally, Gallagher and Williams requested the Protect American IP Act of 2022 and other relevant information related to safeguarding American businesses from CCP’s IP theft be explained to them.
