Federal Court Makes Major Ruling on Ballot Verification in Pennsylvania
Jon Stewart's Skewering of Trump in New York Civil Fraud Cause Just Blew...
Did the Hosts of 'The View' Do Their Homework When They Invited This...
Actually, Kate Middleton Does Have a Body Double...Sort of
Trump, Biden Will Both Be in New York on Thursday...but for Very Different...
Democrat Flips Republican District in Alabama Special Election. Here's What She Campaigned...
Here's What Trump Had to Say About RFK Jr.'s VP Pick
VDH Explains What Any 'Normal' President Would Do About Border That Would End...
Yes, a Terrorist Attack Is Coming to America
There Was Very Little Pete Buttigieg Was Able to Tell Us About Bridge...
An Illegal Alien Encouraged Others to Invade American Homes. Here's What Happened Next.
Time For Another Bizarre, Easily-Disprovable Lie From Joe Biden
Did Jamaal Bowman Just Help His Primary Challenger?
Fani Willis Calls Jim Jordan's Investigation Into Her Office 'Politically Motivated'
Tyson Foods Fires U.S. Workers, Exploits Illegal Aliens for Profits
OPINION

Time to Reverse America's Innovation Decline

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

America’s position as the world’s innovation leader is in peril. A decade of bad public policy combined with a judiciary that fundamentally misunderstands the importance of intellectual property protection have driven this downward spiral.   Fortunately, recent moves in Congress and a change in administration are sending signals that we have a chance to turn the tide.

Advertisement

We are ceding important ground to other nations like Germany, England, and even China and we are doing so voluntarily. Indeed, the current innovation crisis is a problem of our own creation. Instead of supporting American inventors and strengthening intellectual property rights, in recent years some in Congress had continued to push for more policy changes that would further discourage innovation and domestic investment. This disturbing trend must be reversed.

Why should this be considered a crisis? In 2018, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) released their International IP index. Regarding patent system strength, GIPC ranked the United States 12thglobally. This is down from 10thlast year and 1stin every edition prior to that. This isn’t surprising if you consider that our patent system has been under direct attack by legislators, judges, and foreign nations for years. This, in and of itself, should alarm policy makers in D.C.

The decline of our patent system’s strength, however, is not inevitable.  During the Reagan presidency, we faced a similar situation.  Japan was thought to be the leading threat to America’s global innovation leadership. Today that threat comes from China and South Korea.  The Reagan administration – through a commission on industrial competitiveness - took steps to turn this around by making significant changes to strengthen patent protections (and along with property rights protections), reduce regulatory barriers and enhance rules based foreign trading. 

Advertisement

It’s time for us to take steps to protect American innovation again.  Fortunately, some members of Congress have begun to take action.  Recently, my fellow Ohioan Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) joined with Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) and other members on both sides of the aisle to introduce the STRONGER Patents Act– which seeks to strengthen America’s weakened patent system and restore our leadership in global innovation.

The legislation, which joins a Senate version sponsored by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), would “restore patents as property rights, make standards of protections in courts uniform, and protect start-ups from being out-resourced by technology incumbents.”  These bills would reform the out of control Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which has become known as a “patent death squad” by experts and would strengthen the ability of patent holders to protect their innovations. 

The STRONGER Patents Act reflects an understanding of the unique challenges inventors face and fully appreciates the important role strong patent protections have in our innovation economy. The barriers American innovators face in maintaining global competitiveness are real but not insurmountable if Congress and the Trump Administration take action. STRONGER addresses the erosion of fundamental property rights by Congress and the courts in recent years and helps swing the pendulum back towards American innovators.

Advertisement

In addition to the congressional moves, President Trump recognizes better than anyone that the future of American leadership depends on staying ahead of both our friends and our foes. On trade policy, Trump has challenged conventional wisdom and put China on notice that intellectual property theft will be met with American strength and resolve.

In a positive sign, President Trump’s newly-confirmed director of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), Andrei Iancu, seems to understand that America’s patent system is in decline and that the PTO can be a force in reversing this trend. At a recent address to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Patent Policy Conference, Director Iancu said, “[a]s a nation, we cannot continue down the same path if we want to maintain our global economic leadership. And we will not continue down the same path. This administration has a mission to create sustained economic growth, and innovation and IP protection are key goals in support of that mission.”

Our innovation slide can be turned around.  Making pro-IP policy a priority would send a signal to the world that we are not going to willingly give up our historic competitive innovation advantage.

If we fail to address the nation’s slide regarding IP protections, there will be further consequences. We’re already seeing inventors trying to obtain patents in countries who have strong patent protection regimes that include injunctive relief for patent holders. And venture capitalists are moving their investment to inventors holding patents in countries who have strong patents. The message? Strong patents spur research, development, innovation, and investment.

Advertisement

However, if we continue on the path that the administration and members of Congress supporting STRONGER are beginning to chart, we can be assured that the United States will once again be the best place to innovate.

Ken Blackwell is a member of the Policy Board of the American Civic Rights Union. He served as a Domestic Policy Adviser to the Trump/Pence Presidential Transitional Team.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos