David Kappos
and Jeffrey Gerrish
, The Washington Post; Intellectual property supports the U.S. economy. It should be respected abroad."Many countries proudly tout close economic ties to the United States — but when it comes to protecting the intellectual property rights that help make the American economy strong, those trading partners often prove unreliable.
That failure comes at a steep cost. Intellectual-property-intensive industries support more than 62 million U.S. jobs and 41 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product, according to a 2019 report from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. When other countries ignore — or actively attack — IP protections and allow their domestic companies to illicitly profit off American innovation, it hurts U.S. companies, workers and investors."
