Tech Daily Dose

Federal efforts to crack down on intellectual property infringement increased across the board last year, according to a new report by the White House.

"Protecting what we invent, create and produce is always important, but at this time, when every job matters, it is especially important that we stop theft that harms our businesses and threatens jobs here at home," U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel wrote in her second annual report to Congress.

In January widespread protests led Congress to scuttle proposals to give officials more authority to go after counterfeit and pirated goods and content on foreign websites.

The report says investigations by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement increased 17 percent in 2011, while arrests in those cases were up by 57 percent and convictions increased by 71 percent.

Homeland Security agencies seized 44 percent more fake safety and technology goods. Seizures of counterfeit pharmaceuticals were up by almost 200 percent.