GIPC Fact Sheets
On World Intellectual Property Day 2012, the Global IP Center released it’s “IP 101” educational toolkit, aimed at educating elected officials, the public, and business leaders on the basics of intellectual property. We often take for granted how IP touches nearly every aspect of our daily lives, so we took this opportunity to get back to the basics—explaining what IP really is and illustrating the value of IP.
The toolkit includes “IP Delivers Your Daily Needs” infographics and brochure along with an “IP 101” white paper for those who wish to delve a little deeper into IP fundamentals.
The Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) is committed to creating jobs, spurring economic growth, and advancing American competitiveness by promoting and defending robust intellectual property (IP) rules while strengthening enforcement efforts in the United States and abroad. To advance these goals, the GIPC will build broad coalitions of business and labor and secure new allies to work with Congress and the Obama administration on the following priorities:
The Obama Administration has been a staunch supporter of increased intellectual property (IP) enforcement as well as working to provide tools to aid the protection of America’s creative ideas and innovations. The following is a series of recent quotes directly from the President, the Vice President, and senior administration officials showing broad support for IP rights as a critical driver of the American economy.
Entrenched in the black market industry, counterfeiting is no longer limited to the knockoffs of high-end designer handbags sold on city street corners. The creation and trafficking of counterfeit and pirated goods have become a lucrative business that hurts the American economy and destroys lives. Counterfeit goods are not safe, and they fail to live up to the quality of the brands they are knocking off. These goods are created by criminals who are looking to make a profit while harming consumers in the process. Performance of the product and the safety of the individual using it are of no concern to them–but it should be a concern for everyone else.
In April 2010, the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) released its Intellectual Property (IP) Report to Congress “Intellectual Property: Observations of Efforts to Quantify the Economic Effects of Counterfeit and Pirated Goods” which reiterates what government officials, law enforcement, independent experts, and businesses of all sizes have been saying for some time now — counterfeiting and piracy poses a serious threat to innovation, job creation, and economic growth in America, while putting consumers at risk from dangerous and faulty products. The anti-IP factions have touted that the GAO found many economic models of used by right’s holders to be faulty and inaccurate then asserting that the U.S. government and the GAO are skeptical of the real economic costs of IP theft. However, that assertion couldn’t be farther from the truth. Over the years, the GAO has strongly supported the need for increased IP enforcement, protection, and coordination of U.S. government strategies against IP theft. The follow document provides a ‘Myth Vs. Fact’ section followed by a series of GAO pulled from past reports.
Intellectual property (IP) rights and innovation are primary drivers of job creation and American economic growth. Today’s global IP rights system is designed to incentivize individuals, businesses small and large, to invest in the advancements that make our lives better. The dollars applied to research and development (R&D) not only lead to novel creations—from life saving medicines and environmental-friendly technologies to first class entertainment such as books, movies, and music— but also stimulate the economy, create jobs, and enhance American competitiveness.
On March 2, 2010, the AFL-CIO Executive Council unanimously adopted a statement in support of policies aimed at curbing the theft of intellectual property and in support of the widest possible access to content on the Internet and the principles of net neutrality, so long as intellectual property rights—and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that are at stake—are respected.
The Global IP Center is committed to creating jobs and spurring economic growth by working with Congress and the Administration to enhance intellectual property (IP) enforcement and strengthen IP rights in the United States and abroad, complementing America’s first-ever “National IP Strategy” that should be presented this summer.
The current global economic crisis is focusing renewed attention on the urgent need to incentivize and protect innovation to both solve the world’s most challenging problems and to generate jobs and economic growth. Intellectual Property (IP), which refers to everything from inventions to the creative arts, drives innovation and improves our lives—generating life saving devices and medicines, discovering new energy and climate-saving technologies, finding novel ways to create and deliver information, and generating consumer goods of all types. IP-intensive industries employ over 18 million Americans, and many of them are in higher-paying jobs and faster-growing fields. Indeed, the nation’s—and the world’s—future economy will be in industries that rely on innovation and strong IP rights.
Counterfeiting and piracy cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars annually, have led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and needlessly expose consumers to dangerous and defective products.
Once viewed as “victimless crimes,” counterfeiting and piracy have mushroomed in recent years. Since the early 1990s, trade in counterfeits has grown at eight times the rate of legitimate trade. Counterfeit-related seizures by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol rose 125% during the past five years and are up 805 from 2005 to 2006 alone. The sale of these dangerous and defective goods has far-reaching consequences for our lives and our economy.
The Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement Manual is an evolution from the Coalition Against Counterfeiting and Piracy’s (CACP) 2006 No Trade in Fakes Supply Chain Tool Kit. The manual offers practical advice on how brand owners can protect their intellectual property through careful and proactive brand management. The manual also contains case studies that highlight how these best practices are being implemented by some of the world’s leading companies–including ABRO Industries Inc., Altria Group, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, Epson America, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co. Inc., Microsoft, National Basketball Association, NBC Universal, New Balance, Purdue Pharma LP, True Religion Brand Jeans, Unilever, and Xerox.
