SENSE OF CONGRESS.

SEC. 503. SENSE OF CONGRESS. It is the sense of Congress that—(1) the United States intellectual property industries have created millions of high-skill, high-paying United States jobs and pay billions of dollars in annual United States tax revenues;(2) the United States intellectual property industries continue to represent a major source of creativity and innovation, business start-ups, skilled job creation, exports, economic growth, and competitiveness;(3) counterfeiting and infringement results in billions of dollars in lost revenue for United States companies each year and even greater losses to the United States economy in terms of reduced job growth, exports, and competitiveness;(4) the growing number of willful violations of existing Federal criminal laws involving counterfeiting and infringement by actors in the United States and, increasingly, by foreign-based individuals and entities is a serious threat to the long-term vitality of the United States economy and the future competitiveness of United States industry;(5) terrorists and organized crime utilize piracy, counterfeiting, and infringement to fund some of their activities;(6) effective criminal enforcement of the intellectual property laws against violations in all categories of works should be among the highest priorities of the Attorney General;(7) with respect to all crimes related to the theft of intellectual property, the Attorney General shall give priority to cases with a nexus to terrorism and organized crime; and(8) with respect to criminal counterfeiting and infringement of computer software, including those by foreign-owned or foreign-controlled entities, the Attorney General should give priority to cases—(A) involving the willful theft of intellectual property for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;(B) where the theft of intellectual property is central to the sustainability and viability of the commercial activity of the enterprise (or subsidiary) involved in the violation;(C) where the counterfeited or infringing goods or services enables the enterprise to unfairly compete against the legitimate rights holder; or122 STAT. 4280(D) where there is actual knowledge of the theft of intellectual property by the directors or officers of the enterprise.