Des Moines Business Record
10-06-07
Protection against patent piracy is vital to America
BY JEFF HARTY
For more than 100 years, the United States has been the engine of the world's
economy. During all of that time, the American economy has been the most
vibrant, the most dynamic and the most robust of any country on the face of the
Earth. The United States is the world's premier source of intellectual property.
Unlike many other areas of our economy, our nation remains a net exporter of
intellectual property. U.S. intellectual property has been an important factor in our
growth and prosperity, yet many of America's opinion makers and political
leaders don't seem to know it.
In today's economy, where we're concentrated on providing intangibles, it is
crucial that we act to protect this nation's patrimony: the intellectual property of
our hard-working men and women.
Some 200 years ago, when the United States was just starting, Adam Smith
penned a book titled "The Wealth of Nations." In that book, Smith argued that
every nation should concentrate on the things it does best and use that
comparative advantage in trading with other nations. Today, our comparative
advantage is our intellectual property.
During the past decade, intellectual property has accounted for some 25 percent
of all business investment. These intangibles now account for nearly two-thirds of
the market value of large U.S. public companies. Moreover, the United States is
the most efficient country in the world at generating intellectual property such as
patents. The Harvard Business School tells us that it takes about 3,000
Americans to generate one patent while it takes 4,000 people in Japan, 1.2
million in Mexico and 10 million in China.
As Abraham Lincoln recognized long ago, "the patent system added the fuel of
interest to the fire of genius." Indeed, we have enjoyed fruits of significant
innovation in this country. From Thomas Edison's incandescent light bulb and the
Wright brothers' flying machine to modern electronics, agriculture and
pharmaceuticals, Americans have been at the root of the world's greatest
inventions. Estimates put the value of all American intellectual property at as
much as $5.5 trillion - some 45 percent of gross domestic product and greater
than the GDP of any other nation in the world.
Yet, just as someone breaking into your home and stealing your television poses
a threat to your security, piracy, counterfeiting and other theft of American
intellectual property strikes at the very heart of the economic security of this
nation. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a division of the Commerce
Department, states on its Web site that such thievery is an anchor on our
economy to the tune of $250 billion and 750,000 lost jobs every year.
Congress is considering reform to our patent laws, and the U.S. trade
representative will face calls from some legislators to jettison intellectualproperty-protection provisions in trade agreements. It is important that our
representatives in Washington understand how important it is that we protect this
vital part of our economic lives. This all comes at a time when Iowa is positioned
to become a world leader in agricultural biotechnology and take advantage of the
boom in research and production of alternative fuels, such as biodiesel.
As we here in Iowa engage in that quadrennial process of selecting the person
we're going to send to Washington to be president, it goes without saying that the
winner must support policies that will protect American intellectual property. If we
continue to let the rest of the world benefit from American innovation, jobs will
continue to go overseas. So, as we choose our next president, it is important to
know who will be the best at protecting our intellectual property. It's time to stop
giving away the best products of American labor.
It is not only best for America; it's best for our state. Iowa in general and Greater
Des Moines in particular are poised to become the "Silicon Valley" of agriculture.
With Drake University's Intellectual Property Center at its law school, Iowa State
University's plant genetics and the University of Iowa's excellence in health
care, we need to be especially sensitive to the political views that are in harmony
with the intellectual property interests of Iowa and the nation.
Jeff Harty is a patent attorney and the managing member of McKee, Voorhees &
Sease PLC. He is also an adjunct professor at the Drake University Law School,
teaching trademark and copyright law.