Intellectual property rights — copyrights, patents and trademarks — provide the legal framework necessary for creative enterprise like commercial software development to flourish. But it is widely assumed that most people view IP rights as business and legal concepts with little relevance to their daily lives. That’s why the World Intellectual Property Organization and its … Read More >>
Category: Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property & Software
Patent Reform & Software
Privacy & Software
Real Crimes with Real Victims
One of the great misconceptions about intellectual property theft is that it is little more than a nuisance crime. By this faulty reasoning, there’s no real harm in using commercial products without paying for them, and it’s no big deal if someone sets up shop to sell cheap knockoffs of the real thing. But the … Read More >>
Scaling the Mount Everest of Trade Barriers to Create Jobs
It is a truism: To grow in the global economy, a country must trade. The Obama Administration and Congress clearly understand this. It’s why the President has set a goal of doubling US exports in five years — and why lawmakers are pressing hard to ensure that happens. Congress recently has been scrutinizing US trade … Read More >>
Focusing the Patent Debate on What Most Needs Fixing
A fair, balanced and effective patent system is indispensible in promoting investment in research and development, job creation, global competitiveness and economic growth — goals that lawmakers from across the ideological spectrum can support. Yet US patent law has not been comprehensively modernized in more than 50 years. Led by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick … Read More >>
Keeping Strong IPR at the Top of the Trans-Pacific Trade Agenda
Want to bring down the US trade deficit? One easy way is to reduce software piracy. At last count, the packaged-software industry was contributing a surplus of nearly $37 billion to the US balance of trade — and that was with one hand tied behind its back, because another $30 billion worth of sales are … Read More >>