The U.S. Commerce Department today released a comprehensive report, entitled “Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus,” which finds that intellectual property (IP)-intensive industries support at least 40 million jobs and contribute more than $5 trillion dollars to, or 34.8 percent of, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).
The Department of Commerce and USPTO are unleashing new innovations and new industries by advancing a robust framework of intellectual property protections for a global economy. The USPTO has already implemented eight provisions of the recently passed America Invents Act, which are enhancing the speed and quality of patent processing, connecting businesses with the tools they need to develop their technologies, and speeding up patent applications. Since President Obama took office, the backlog has been reduced by nearly 15 percent, from about 750,000 to just under 641,000 today. That reduction has come despite the acceleration of American ingenuity, and patent filings in the U.S. grew five percent in FY 2011. By re-engineering the IP system from the ground up, the USPTO is creating a 21st century innovation architecture that’s built to last and will help America remain a global leader going forward.
Patents, trademarks, and copyrights are the principal means for establishing ownership rights to inventions and ideas, and provide a legal foundation by which intangible ideas and creations generate tangible benefits to businesses and employees. IP protection affects commerce throughout the economy, including by: providing incentives to invent and create; protecting innovators from unauthorized copying; facilitating vertical specialization in technology markets; creating a platform for financial investments in innovation; supporting startup liquidity and growth through mergers, acquisitions, and IPOs; making licensing-based technology business models possible; and, enabling a more efficient market for technology transfer and trading in technology and ideas.
The full report can be found online at http://www.esa.doc.gov/Reports/intellectual-property-and-us-economy-industries-focus.
To learn more about the Department of Commerce’s efforts to spur innovation and protect IP, visit www.uspto.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
