The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a think tank for science and technology policy, has released a report it says refutes nine points that critics often use to lobby for weaker intellectual property (IP) oversight.
In a news release this week, the foundation noted that its analysis has determined that claims arguing against IP can be flawed. It maintains that the U.S. government should position itself as a champion of global IP to spur job growth and protect U.S. competition.
“Progressives have launched an assault on IP rights in U.S. domestic policy, international forums, and trade agreements,” Stephen Ezell, vice president of ITIF global innovation policy, said in the release. “If the administration and Congress are concerned about U.S. competitiveness, they need to push back.”
Ezell noted that the U.S. set the standard for intellectual property protection for decades and advocated for a global trading system that protected IP rights because the country’s economic stability and employment numbers were at stake.
“Unfortunately, many U.S. policymakers are now walking away from that critical role, all too often arguing for weaker, not stronger, IP rights and enforcement,” he said in the release. “It’s time for the U.S. government to reassert itself as a global champion for IP.”
The ITIF claimed that Congress has tried to seize intellectual property developed in university labs and funded with federal money in an effort to lower drug prices, and progressive legislators have sought a rollback of IP protections in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
The foundation contends that if the protections are rolled back, the earnings of companies driving innovation will fall, leading them to cut investment in research, product development and production under the belief that they would not be able to cover their investments; the release said.
The ITIF concluded that reward systems and patronage, which it stated have been offered as options to IP, cannot support the nation’s key sections that are IP-sensitive and employ more than 45 million people.
