U.S. Chamber’s Sixth Annual IP Summit Hails Innovation and Creativity as Catalysts to Job Creation
WASHINGTON, D.C.-At the U.S. Chamber’s Sixth Annual Intellectual Property Summit today, Dr. Mark Esper, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) hailed intellectual property as a catalyst to job creation, and urged the administration to move forward and develop a comprehensive national intellectual property (IP) strategy.
“IP promotion and protection are vital forces of our nation’s economic growth and job creation,” Esper said. According to the Chamber’s data, IP accounts for more than half of all U.S. exports and helps drive 40% of U.S. economic growth with more than $5 trillion in gross domestic product.
Esper also echoed comments from the U.S. Chamber’s President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue, who called on the administration to work with business and Congress to devise a bold national IP strategy that aggressively addresses the promotion of IP and the enforcement of IP rights. As mandated by Congress in the 2008 PRO-IP Act (H.R. 4279), a comprehensive national strategy is necessary to strengthen civil and criminal laws against counterfeiting and piracy, improve coordination between state and local governments, and provide supportive resources to enhance IP enforcement efforts.
GIPC’s Sixth Annual Summit, Innovating Our Way Forward: Today’s Idea, Tomorrow’s Solution, brought together speakers from a wide range of IP-intensive industries along with members of Congress and senior administration officials. United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Chairman Howard Berman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office David Kappos joined Donohue to discuss the challenges and opportunities confronting our nation’s innovative industries and workers in today’s environment. In addition to discussions of IP’s role in promoting new solutions to global challenges, the GIPC also launched the “Faces of IP” and key IP-related research on green jobs and technology transfer.
The Chamber’s Global Intellectual Property Center is working around the world to champion intellectual property (IP) as vital to creating jobs, saving lives, advancing global economic growth, and generating breakthrough solutions to global challenges.
The U.S. Chamber is the world’s largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region.
For more information, please contact Trinh Nguyen at (202) 463-5379.
