Jaci McDole

The WTO’s approval of a TRIPS waiver for IP related to COVID-19 vaccines is essentially a shotgun blast completely missing the broadside of a barn.

On May 10, 2022, Senator Josh Hawley introduced the Copyright Clause Restoration Act of 2022, a bill whose sole intent is to deprive Disney of copyright protections in retaliation for the company’s “woke” stance on social issues. This move is petty, unconstitutional, overall bad policymaking, and violates U.S. obligations under the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WCT). The Senate Judiciary Committee should let this bill die.

Although skeptics call IP an “elite concern,” recent reports from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), and the European Patent Office (EPO) show the positive impact IP has on small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), overall employment, and regionsal and global economies.

Global leaders should look to the facts rather than finalizing the tentative IP waiver agreement. The end is (hopefully) in sight. The world has the tools it needs; it just needs to solve the actual problem. Global efforts and resources would be better spent improving distributional infrastructure than solving an IP-related problem that simply doesn’t exist.

Acting against Chinese IP theft is a rare area of bipartisan support in U.S. trade policy, and the SECRETS Act provides a chance for U.S. policymakers and the Biden administration to take a stand against such parasitic practices by enacting a new law.

In his shift to a “worker-centric trade agenda,” President Biden should reject the counsel of anticorporate, antitrade progressives who deny that U.S. companies’ interests align with U.S. workers’ interests. A new competitiveness-focused approach to trade policy can support both.

Most music is directly associated with the artists who perform the work—yet, under the current royalty system, these same musicians are not compensated when their music plays on terrestrial broadcast stations via AM/FM radio.

Bill C-10 would classify streaming services, user-generated content sites, and similar services as “broadcasters,” providing the CRTC broad control over how these Internet-based services operate in Canada.

From vaccines and therapeutics to delivery robots, intellectual property has played an indispensable role in facilitating development of a range of inventive products that have helped address health care, work, and social challenges brought on by the pandemic.

Intellectual property has proved to be indispensable in developing effective vaccines and therapeutics. Nevertheless, advocates have seized the moment to petition the WTO’s TRIPS Council not just to suspend patents, but also to reform national copyright laws governing digital access to knowledge, and data and text mining.

Seven case studies showcase how IP rights are enabling innovators in Latin America to help solve some of the greatest global health challenges.

Please join ITIF, Geneva Network, Hudson Institute, the Center for Intellectual Property and Innovation Protection, Property Rights Alliance, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as we learn the stories of a few of the individuals and SMEs who rely on IP rights to innovate for a better future.

The GTIPA’s annual summits bring together alliance members with world-leading experts to explore creative solutions to the difficult economic, trade, and innovation challenges facing the international community.

ITIF hosted an expert panel discussion about the report and the vital role IP has played throughout the pandemic.

Stephen Ezell and Jaci McDole presented about Intellectual Property’s Impact on Global Health and Life-sciences Innovation to students at the University of Akron Law School on February 18, 2021.