The Center for Innovation and Free Enterprise thanks Senators’ Tillis (R-NC), Burr (R-NC), and Young (IN) for their recent letter to Ambassador Robert Lighthizer of USTR voicing strong support for a robust 2020 Special 301 Report. The letter applauds the Trump Administration’s continued dedication to promoting strong intellectual property protection and enforcement while urging the 301 Report to include industry-specific fact sheets highlighting government-sanctioned IP theft and price controls imposed on American companies.
As the Senators accurately describe, The Special 301 Report serves as a critical guidepost for strategic enforcement against bad international actors who continue to steal U.S. IP and trade secrets while imposing market entry barriers for specific sectors of our economy.
Predatory practices by foreign governments continue to erode property rights for American inventors, property rights that are afforded by the Constitution. Innovators in the biopharmaceutical sector face some of the most abrasive barriers to entry in the form of government sanctioned price controls, regulatory approval delays, and forced localization.
The letter concludes that USTR must pursue future trade agreements that put American innovation first. “To that end, the robust IP and innovation provisions originally agreed to in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement should be pursued in ongoing and future negotiations as articulated in The Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015”.
America’s knowledge economy depends on congressional champions to protect our strong and reliable IP system. We thank Senator’s Tillis (R-NC), Burr (R-NC), and Young (R-IN) for remaining committed to defending innovators and creators in North Carolina, Indiana, and nationwide.