United States Climbs Back to #2 in the World for Patent Protection

Moving on up!

After falling well into double digit rankings about 5 years ago, the United States is now #2 in the world (Singapore taking top honors) for patent protection according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center in the GIPC’s 2019 International IP Index: https://bit.ly/2HYH3gh

The U.S. also was ranked as the global leader for the protection and enforcement of intellectual property (IP) rights.

“The Trump Administration knows that strong and reliable intellectual property protections are necessary for American business to succeed,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.

As an aside, the IP Index also coyly describes at page 10, “China stands at a crossroads. On the one hand, rights holders have seen real and substantial improvements to the national IP environment over the course of the past seven years. Meaningful changes have been made to the Chinese legal code, and enforcement efforts, although still facing a daunting challenge, have improved. Yet, in key areas relating to technology transfer, licensing, and localization requirements, Chinese policy remains more or less wedded to a backward-looking agenda.” What the IP Index doesn’t mention outright or attempt to reconcile are IP rights in a communist system. The closet the IP Index comes to calling out communism is found on page 33: “China’s model has diverged from international standards through direct government intervention and the use of coercive licensing….” (emphasis added).

But to its credit, the IP Index restates this truth throughout its many pages, pictures, charts and graphs: nations that value and protect patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets have more highly skilled workers, higher standards of living, better economies, and are more competitive.