The 2019 U.S. Chamber International IP Index

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Innovation Policy Centre champions intellectual property rights around the world, as crucial for jobs creation, saving lives, advancing global economic growth and generating breakthrough solutions to global challenges. It annually releases the International IP Index and in its 7th edition, it shows how intellectual property (IP) systems have been a driving force behind transformation and enrichment of human lives.
 
Effective IP protections foster a climate of innovation and creativity, based on legal frameworks of rights and responsibilities. Governments are increasingly investing in such regulatory frameworks, by embracing robust IP protection and enforcement to spur innovation and create 21st century content for knowledge-based economies. This trend coexists with populist resistance that threatens the core of IP rights in major markets. In this context, the 2019 U.S. Chamber International IP Index, titled Inspiring Tomorrow, benchmarks the IP frameworks of 50 global economies, to create a roadmap for countries to strengthen their IP, as they aspire to foster economic growth and global competitiveness.
 
The Index evaluates the IP infrastructure in each economy based on 45 unique indicators, which are critical to the growth of effective IP systems. The indicators span 8 categories of IP protection: patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, commercialization of IP assets, enforcement, systemic efficiency, and membership and ratification of international treaties.
 
In endorsing a robust IP system, the Index highlights several socio-economic benefits:

• Increased global trade and investment
• The creation of an innovation-driven economy through more high-skilled workers and increased R&D activity
• Greater competitiveness of human capital
• Stronger global competitiveness
• Increased production and export of knowledge-intensive products, among others

Global technology transfers are crucial drivers of innovation. IP frameworks for market entry and licensing rights can facilitate or disrupt technology diffusion and access to innovative technologies and products. Thus, this year, the Index has included four new indicators vis-à-vis the commercialization of IP assets:

• Barriers to technology transfer
• Registration and disclosure requirements of licensing deals
• Tax incentives for creation of IP assets
• Direct government intervention in setting licensing terms

The Index also covers two new indicators on protection of trade secrets (criminal sanctions) and targeted incentives for creation and use of IP assets for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) to bolster systemic efficiency.
 

Some developing countries have bolstered their IP protection.

• India’s score has improved, as it has climbed eight places in the rankings, from 44th in 2018 to 36th in 2019. This can be attributed to an increase in specific reforms that align the domestic and international IP systems better than before.
• In Brazil, the government used incentives and programs to help SMEs create and register IP assets.
• The Argentinian government streamlined the patenting process as well as increased international cooperation, transparency and stakeholder engagement on IP

Other governments have continued to undermine the reliability of IP patents as a vehicle for return on investment:

• Chile, Colombia and Peru are considering the utilization of compulsory licenses to address price concerns for Hepatitis C medicines. These can reduce legal certainty and jeopardize the availability of innovative medicines in the Latin American region
• Similarly, the Russian government has issued a compulsory license on a biopharmaceutical product and continues to utilize localization requirements to further the country’s industrial policy agenda

Ongoing IP challenges, at the heart of global trade dispute between US and China, have drawn attention to long-standing issues that significantly challenge IP-intensive industries globally.

• The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) has laid the foundation for 21st century IP in FTAs (free trade agreements) by including provisions to harmonize and strengthen IP protection across North America:10-year term of regulatory data protection for biologics, more effective trade secrets protection, stronger enforcement mechanisms against counterfeit goods, including those in transit
• Over the course of additional trade negotiations with Japan, UK and EU, other areas need to delved into: secondary liability, statutory damages obligationsand injunctive-style relief
• The U.S. previously ranked 12th due to ongoing unpredictability around validity of patents, is now placed 2nd due to reforms, alongside Japan and some EU countries

The Index concludes with a reiteration of the direct linkage between the strength and enforcement of IP rights in a country and its ability to capitalize upon domestic innovative and creative capacity as well as access to global innovations. The world started from a low global IP standard with slow and inconsistent progress. However, broader measures have improved systemic efficiency of IP rights administration and the ability of IP owners to leverage their rights to finance innovative and creative activities. Notwithstanding continued political threats to undermine IP rights for populist purposes, there is evidence that the world is becoming an IP believer, inspired by the possibility of a better tomorrow.
 
Source: Executive Summary of the Index
 
India Outbound
February 8, 2019
 
 

source https://indiaoutbound.org/the-2019-u-s-chamber-international-ip-index/