TPA Releases New Report on Intellectual Property

Intellectual property (IP) rights are critical to sustaining the American economy. Countless innovations, ranging from life-saving pharmaceuticals to fast and efficient automobiles to blockbuster hits, are spurred along because producers know their work won’t be stolen or mimicked. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance’s (TPA) latest IP Report examines the three-pronged system of IP protection in the U.S. — consisting of patents, copyrights, and trademarks — which offers unparallelled safeguards for innovators looking to bring their products to market.

The report examines each of these IP protections, provides an overview of the kinds of innovation protected by each type, discusses enforcement challenges, and examines government proposals that threaten IP protections. For example, state and local officials have taken an expansive view of what they view as government trademarks. They have used far-fetched legal theories to punish producers and storeowners who reference geographic names (e.g., “San Francisco Bay”) in their products and materials.

Additionally, proposals in Congress such as the COPIED Act would place onerous liability on developers and users of generative artificial intelligence (AI) trained by publicly available and potentially copyrighted content. As the report notes, the bill disguises various mandates as voluntary technical standards. It places an unrealistic expectation that all content used to train an AI model must be accompanied by explicit consent from its creator. Federal officials have even proposed seizing IP from inventors ostensibly for price and quality control. One harmful idea involves using the (otherwise pro-IP) Bayh-Dole Act to take away manufacturers’ exclusive sales rights to medications if the medications are not offered for sale on terms the government does not deem “reasonable.” This would chill innovation across all sectors of economy, making inventors and producers think twice before investing time and money on their next great idea.

TPA’s report urges federal, state, and local governments to protect IP rights and reject calls for compulsory licensing. It also warns against the dangers of governments using their own IP claims to crowd out innovation. Hopefully, policymakers heed the report’s recommendations, and the U.S. continues to shine on IP protection.