IPEC Victoria Espinel Steps Down

Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel, has stepped down from her position, effective Friday, August 9, 2013. Andrew Ramonas, "White House IP Chief Victoria Espinel Steps Down," Corporate Counsel, Aug. 13, 2013. Until a new IPEC is officially named, Howard Shelanski, administrator of the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, will act as Interim IPEC. Id.
According to Corporate Counsel, "Congress created the intellectual property enforcement coordinator post in the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 (text), and the Senate confirmed Espinel as the coordinator in December 2009. She previously was an IP law professor at George Mason University School of Law and the first assistant U.S. trade representative for intellectual property and innovation." Id.
    
It has been suggested that Ms. Espinel will be moving over to the Business Software Alliance, although no formal announcement has yet been made. See, e.g., Alex Byers, "Where will Victoria Espinel land? - NYT: NSA leaks hurt cyber plan's chances - Senators step up Bitcoin scrutiny," Politico Morning Tech, Aug. 13, 2013; The Deadline Team, "Nation's First IP Czar Steps Down," Deadline, Aug. 12, 2013; Jennifer Martinez, "Obama's intellectual property chief steps down," Hillicon Valley (The Hill's Technology Blog), Aug. 12, 2013. 
 
Updates from the IPEC's Office can be found here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/intellectualproperty. Interestingly, this site still lists Ms. Espinel as serving as the IPEC.

Prior Posts on the Privacy and IP Law Blog about the IPEC and its reports can be found here: http://privacyandip.blogspot.com/search/label/IPEC.