IPEC praises Trump’s ‘significant efforts’ to protect American IP
Vishal Amin, US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC), has heaped praise on US President Donald Trump’s approach to promoting and protecting American IP, in a report submitted to Congress.
In the “ Annual Intellectual Property Report to Congress”, which was published yesterday, February 4, Amin—who was nominated by Trump in April 2017 and confirmed in August that year—said that the Trump administration has taken significant actions to promote and protect IP through a four-part strategic approach.
This approach includes engagement with trading partners; effective use of all legal authorities, including trade tools; expanded law enforcement action and cooperation; and engagement and partnership with the private sector and other stakeholders.
According to Amin, while Trump will continue to build upon the work of previous administrations, the current administration will also investigate the approaches that have “failed to bear fruit”.
While Amin didn’’t specify any of the approaches that are not working or failing to achieve meaningful results, Trump has already removed the US from a number of Obama-era international agreements, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal.
Trump abandoned his country’s involvement in the TPP deal during his first week in office, after claiming that the partnership was a “potential disaster” for the US and promising that the administration would negotiate “fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores”.
This rhetoric is recited by Amin in the report: “But the administration also recognises that for the US to maintain its future economic competitiveness, we need to think strategically and shift the paradigm to one where we not only place America First, but regard America’s inventive and creative capacity as something that we must protect, promote and prioritise.”
Amin added that the administration’s approach makes clear that the US’s economic prosperity relies upon its leadership in technology and creativity, and that the country must protect its innovative economy from those who “steal IP and unfairly exploit the innovations of free societies”.
For Trump, China appears to be top of the list for alleged trade abuses. During his presidential campaign, Trump made it a campaign priority to push back against the abuses.
Since then, tensions between the US and China have intensified and a tariff war has been waged. Now, with less than a month before a March 1 deadline for a deal between the two countries or an increase in tariffs, Trump has said he expects to reach a comprehensive trade deal with China.
The report also outlined law enforcement efforts, including a number of trade secret prosecutions brought by the Department of Justice in recent months, many of which related to Chinese individuals.
In October 2018, an operative of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (the intelligence and security agency for China) was charged with economic espionage and stealing trade secrets from US aviation companies.
Amin also noted that in November last year, attorney general Jeff Sessions announced the creation of a China-focused initiative aimed at identifying priority Chinese trade theft cases, ensuring the DoJ has enough resources to dedicate to them and making sure that the department brings them to an appropriate conclusion.
“The road that we take will define the course of freedom, innovation, and prosperity—for decades to come. And that is why we must be committed to advancing pro-growth policies to protect our continued economic and innovative competitiveness, promote new engines of growth, and prioritise America’s innovative and creative capacity,” concluded Amin.
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