Intellectual property theft, predominantly by Chinese computer hackers, costs the US economy $300bn (£200bn) a year and must be treated as seriously as terrorism.
That's according to The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property in a newly released report compiled by high-ranking government, military and industry officials. They include Dennis Blair, former director of national intelligence to Barack Obama, and Jon Huntsman, former US ambassador to China.
"The scale of international theft of American intellectual property (IP) is unprecedented - hundreds of billions of dollars per year, on the order of the size of US exports to Asia," said the report, which suggests IP theft is costing up to two million American jobs a year.
Between 50 and 80 per cent of IP thefts are thought to come from China and have the backing of the Chinese government, according to the Commission.
"National industrial policy goals in China encourage IP theft, and an extraordinary number of Chinese in business and government entities are engaged in this practice," the report said, adding that in addition to IP being acquired through cyber crime, less technologically advanced methods such as bribing employees are also used.
The Commission suggests stronger sanctions must be taken against those responsible for theft of intellectual property.
"The scope of the problem requires stronger action, involving swifter and more stringent penalties for IP theft," said the report, which recommends sanctions including bans on imports for nations found to be responsible for IP theft.
Earlier this month, a Pentagon report accused the Chinese government of being behind cyber attacks against US government computer systems.
