The Congressional Research Service has just released a new report on Intellectual Property Rights and International Trade (Shayerah IIias and Ian Fergusson, December 20).
This backgrounder reviews the issues, the importance of intellectual property to the economy, and the steps the U.S. takes to protecting its international interests in these rights. Here's the executive summary:
This report provides background on intellectual property rights (IPR) and discusses the role of U.S. international trade policy in enhancing IPR protection and enforcement abroad. IPR are legal rights granted by governments to encourage innovation and creative output by ensuring that creators reap the benefits of their inventions or works and they may take the form of patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, or geographical indications. U.S. industries that rely on IPR contribute significantly to U.S. economic growth, employment, and trade with other countries. Counterfeiting and piracy in other countries may result in the loss of billions of dollars of revenue for U.S. firms as well as the loss of jobs. Responsibility for developing IPR policy, engaging in IPR-related international negotiations, and enforcing IPR laws cuts across several different U.S. Government agencies. The main structures for coordinating interagency efforts are the National Intellectual Property Law Enforcement Coordinating Council (NIPLECC) and the Strategy Targeting Organized Piracy (STOP!).
Promoting the enforcement of IPR is an important component of U.S. international trade policy. Since the 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) at the World Trade Organization (WTO), trade policy has been used to enforce IPR abroad. The United States and several trading partners recently announced plans to pursue a multilateral anti-counterfeiting agreement that would surpass TRIPS Agreement commitments.
The United States also pursues international IPR support through regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs), which often include IPR commitments by U.S. partners exceeding their TRIPS Agreement obligations. However, for the Peru, Panama, and Colombia FTAs, the Administration agreed to scale back some IPR requirements to bolster bipartisan support for the FTAs. Other trade policy tools also are available for U.S. efforts to advance international IPR . Pursuant to Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 as amended (P.L. 93-618), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) identifies countries providing inadequate IPR protection in its annual “Special 301” report. Section 337 of the amended Tariff Act of 1930 authorizes the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to prohibit U.S. imports of infringing products. Additionally, under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the United States may consider a developing country’s IPR policies and practices as a basis for offering preferential duty-free entry to certain products from the country, and can suspend GSP benefits if IPR protection is lacking.
IPR protection and enforcement bring up several key issues for Congress. A central issue is the appropriateness of FTAs as a vehicle for promoting IPR. Congress also faces the challenge of balancing the need for IPR protection and enforcement with the goals of the Doha Declaration on Public Health. Additionally, there has been concern about the effectiveness of the current U.S. IPR enforcement structure. In the 110th Congress, legislation was introduced calling for a new structure to coordinate federal IPR enforcement activities and to increase U.S. international IPR enforcement efforts. This report will be updated as warranted by events.
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