Intellectual Property
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As nations engage in a race for global advantage in innovation, ITIF champions a new policy paradigm that ensures businesses and national economies can compete successfully by spurring public and private investment in foundational areas such as research, skills, and 21st century infrastructure. Our work on intellectual property issues includes analysis of how appropriately governed intellectual property protections—including patents, copyright, trademarks, and trade secrets—drive innovation.
Featured
No, Market Leaders Are Not Driving Declines in Innovation and Economic Dynamism
A report by the Economic Innovation Group (EIG) concludes that declining knowledge diffusion is the underlying cause of declining business dynamism. However, its theoretical model is based on flawed assumptions, while its mathematical model has methodological issues.
Losing the Lead: Why the United States Must Reassert Itself as a Global Champion for Robust IP Rights
Arguments for weakening IP rights have been gaining traction in the United States to enable a redistribution agenda. But spurring U.S. competitiveness, supporting American jobs, and advancing innovation will require the federal government to step up its game in defense of a more robust global IP regime.
More Publications and Events
October 7, 2024|Blogs
Boom in State Digital Replica Laws Fuels Need for Federal Publicity Right
Congress should pass an amended version of the NO FAKES Act that preempts all existing and future state digital likeness laws. This would ensure consistent IP protections for all Americans—including performers—support innovation in entertainment, and prevent a patchwork of state digital replica laws.
May 6, 2024|Blogs
Public Knowledge vs. Progress: The Debate on Website Blocking in the United States and Elsewhere
Congress and other stakeholders would do well to ignore SOPA as a relic of the past and instead focus on those stakeholders who want to engage on the substantial and growing body of evidence from around the world.
April 13, 2024|Blogs
Congress Should Fund the Creation of a Similarity Checker for Music
A landmark ruling in 2015 made it harder for artists and record labels to determine where permissible influence and interpolation become impermissible appropriation and plagiarism. Congress should make things more consistent, accurate, and fair by directing the Copyright Office to launch a competition for the private sector to come up with an AI-enabled tool to compare how similar a musical composition or recording is to existing copyright-protected works.
March 18, 2024|Blogs
Fact of the Week: Technology Sector Firms Pay a Higher Premium to Acquire Innovative Target Firms
A recent paper found that the average innovative target firm received a takeover premium and cumulative abnormal stock returns that were 4.2 and 5.6 percentage points, respectively, higher than their non-innovative counterparts.
March 1, 2024|Testimonies & Filings
Comments to the ICO on Training Generative AI Models Using Web Scraped Data
The Center for Data Innovation submitted comments to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent body set up to uphold information rights, on its generative AI consultation.
February 26, 2024|Blogs
Fact of the Week: Cross-Border Patenting Would Have Been 43 Percent Lower Without Globalization
A new working paper estimates that cross-border patenting from the Global North to the Global South would have been about 43 percent lower in the absence of globalization.
February 20, 2024|Blogs
Fact of the Week: A 1 Percent Increase in Patents Leads to a 0.08 Percent Decrease in Carbon Emissions
A new working paper indicates that a 1 percent increase in the number of patent applications is associated with a decrease in carbon emissions of about 0.08 percent.
February 12, 2024|Presentations
AI and Creativity at the 20th Annual State of the Net
Hodan Omaar speaks at the 2024 State of the Net Conference on a panel about artificial intelligence and creativity in the arts.
January 31, 2024|Testimonies & Filings
Comments to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Regarding the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Agreement
The United States should not endorse an IPR waiver in the WHO Pandemic Preparedness Agreement. It would not increase the number of vaccines or therapeutics, or the global supply that might be needed to address a future global pandemic.
January 22, 2024|Blogs
The FTC is Meddling in AI Creativity in Its Comments to the Copyright Office
The FTC is overreaching into areas beyond its regulatory purview—it has no jurisdiction over copyright issues—but imposing additional restrictions on the use of creative works in AI beyond existing copyright law will undercut competition.
