26 March 2008

Intellectual property protection vital to global economy, March 26, 2008

(U.S. Chamber of Commerce addresses issue at February 19 press conference)

The speaker is David Chavern, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.  He spoke to reporters about the chamber's views on intellectual property protection before heading to Mumbai, India, to participate in the chamber's second annual Global Forum on Innovation, Creativity, and Intellectual Property, which took place February 26-27.  The recording was made by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington February 19.
(begin transcript)

But really, if you asked us what is the most fundamental challenge we face, the one that presents the most danger to our members, it's really the whole challenges related to theft of intellectual property and the expanding theft of intellectual property rather than a diminishing problem.  There are really two broad sets of issues that we try to engage on this issue.  There is what people normally and traditionally think of as theft of intellectual property, which is criminals of various kinds who make fake handbags and fake DVDs and try to sell them in places to people knowingly and unknowingly.  But a broader and more disturbing trend is essentially the expropriation of intellectual property by governments with the support of other governments and NGOs, with very noble sounding reasons for why you’re doing this but ultimately with the same effect which is to crush the innovation engine of not only our economy but of the world-wide economy.

(end transcript)