Tomorrow I take my first trip to the US. I am enormously privileged to be part of a group of people from multiple nations who will consider the importance of intellectual property rights in the global trade and business communities.
For some of you that might sound deadly dull. For me, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime to have look at the impact of technology on how we live our lives and how our new economy is emerging. And how a thinker, a policy maker and legislator from New Zealand might be able to absorb information, get a few ideas, have a few arguments and come up with some concepts that could add value to New Zealand.
I am sponsored by the US State Department.
I will post some thoughts along the way.
an issue that goes to the very heart of the clash we find ourselves in right now– that struggle between the print and digital cultures. It’s also a struggle between top-down capitalism and whatever might replace it.
Have a great time, Clare. Keep fighting the good fight.
–j
You could ask them what they think about kim.com getting the royal treatment at parliament yesterday.
I do wonder whether this is a bit of a promotion drive for America’s biggest export – IP and media… I’d be interested to know if it’s a balanced argument across “stakeholders”.
It is encouraging to learn that you are going to the US to learn more about intellectual property – and I mean that sincerely, not ironically. As part of that study I hope that you will have a chance to read the March 2012 US Patent and Trademark Office report: “Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus” that can be downloaded from the link:
http://www.uspto.gov/ip/officechiefecon/report_ip_and_the_us_economy.jsp
Some of the findings of that report were:
_ The entire U.S. economy relies on some form of IP, because virtually every industry either produces or uses it.
_ IP-intensive industries accounted for about $5.06 trillion in value added, or 34.8% of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), in 2010. Merchandise exports of IP-intensive industries totalled $775 billion in 2010, accounting for 60.7% of total U.S. merchandise exports.
_ IP-intensive industries directly accounted for 27.1 million American jobs, or 18.8% of all employment in the economy, in 2010.
_ A substantial share of IP-intensive employment in the U.S. was in the 60 trademark-intensive industries, with 22.6 million jobs in 2010. The 26 patent-intensive industries accounted for 3.9 million jobs in 2010, while the 13 copyright-intensive industries provided 5.1 million jobs.
And in Table 1 on page 8 of that report, the top four industries (measured as patent intensity) were the computer and peripheral equipment industry; the communications equipment industry; the semiconductor and other electronic components industry; and the other components and electronic products industry. Most of the patents held in those industries are for software-implemented inventions.
In your speech on the second reading debate on the Patents Bill you said:
“Labour has stood up for the innovator. We are unashamed about that because our nation’s future relies on creative people who have ideas and use technology to build new products and services that can build our skills and our export industries and make New Zealand a desirable place for investors, and provide careers for our kids.”
I hope every New Zealander agrees with that – I certainly do. You have been convinced by a well connected lobby group that patents for software related inventions are a bad thing for innovation. But have you considered the evidence for the opposite – starting with the USPTO Report?
And you might also have a look at this blog post – and the comments (which are longer than the original post.):
http://sticknz.net/2012/09/17/patents-bill-second-reading-a-software-storm-in-an-ideological-teacup/#comments
Original goal – does it encourage innovation or limit it? I think that’s a fairly good acid test.
http://www.x-plane.com/x-world/lawsuit/
Is a good example of how daft it can be. A company that does nothing but patents ideas (not develop) is suing a company that develops flight simulators for making a flight simulator…