{ "id": "RL34292", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "RL34292", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 624922, "date": "2020-05-12", "retrieved": "2020-05-19T13:41:35.235684", "title": "Intellectual Property Rights and International Trade", "summary": "This report provides background on intellectual property rights (IPR) and discusses the role of U.S. international trade policy in enhancing IPR protection and enforcement abroad. IPR are legal rights granted by governments to encourage innovation and creative output by ensuring that creators reap the benefits of their inventions or works. They may take forms such as patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, or geographical indications (GIs). Congress has constitutional responsibility for legislating and overseeing IPR and international trade policy. Responsibility for developing IPR policy, engaging in IPR-related international negotiations, and enforcing IPR laws cuts across multiple U.S. government agencies.\nThe protection and enforcement of IPR is an important and long-standing component of U.S. international trade policy and U.S. trade negotiating objectives. U.S. trade policy also seeks to address new and evolving issues in the IPR landscape related to the growing role of emerging markets in the global marketplace and the development of new technologies, including related to digital trade. \nSince the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the 1995 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), trade policy has been used to advance IPR rules internationally. The TRIPS Agreement set minimum standards for IPR protection and enforcement. The United States engages in efforts with other trading partners to build on the TRIPS Agreement, particularly through the negotiation of regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs). Since 1988, Congress has included IPR as a principal trade negotiating objective for trade agreements in trade promotion authority (TPA). The specific negotiating objectives on IPR, including in the most recent renewal of TPA, in the Bipartisan Trade Promotion and Accountability Act (P.L. 114-26), seek to negotiate TRIPS-plus provisions in U.S. FTAs. To date, the United States has entered into 14 FTAs with 20 countries, which generally include IPR commitments exceeding obligations under the TRIPS Agreement (\u201cTRIPS-plus\u201d). IPR issues were prominent in the U.S. renegotiation of the NAFTA that culminated in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement (USMCA). They also may surface in other U.S. trade liberalization or free trade agreement negotiations, such as with the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK), which may depend on the outcome of UK-EU negotiations on their post-Brexit trade relationship. \nOther trade policy tools also are available to advance U.S. international IPR objectives under various U.S. statutory authorities known as Special 301, Section 301, Section 337, and preference programs (such as the Generalized System of Preferences).\nIn legislating on and monitoring IPR issues related to international trade policy, Congress may:\nexamine the role of IPR in U.S. trade policy, including the implications of IPR trade negotiating objectives in Trade Promotion Authority; \nconduct oversight of implementation of the IPR commitments in existing trade agreements, as well as U.S. trade negotiations with the EU and the UK;\nconduct oversight of the role of IPR in U.S. economic growth and innovation, and how the protection and enforcement of IPR relates to other public policy goals, such as access to medicines in poor or developing countries and cross-border data flows; \nconsider additional policy options to address IPR concerns in emerging economies that are not a part of existing U.S. FTAs or included in current U.S. FTA negotiations. This may also include new and evolving IPR issues, such as China\u2019s industrial policies that promote indigenous innovation through IP theft, forced localization and technology transfer policies, forced localization barriers to trade, and trade secret theft through cybercrime; and\nexamine the effectiveness of the current U.S. coordinating structure and the adequacy of current federal resources for promoting international IPR support.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL34292", "sha1": "1f6c36db8d259bee7e8c8befde772ea4d94d72f1", "filename": "files/20200512_RL34292_1f6c36db8d259bee7e8c8befde772ea4d94d72f1.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=RL/html/RL34292_files&id=/2.png": "files/20200512_RL34292_images_d9e1e8b8a31a0447997e0d79c5daa3e74e48f81d.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=RL/html/RL34292_files&id=/3.png": "files/20200512_RL34292_images_37c89cc3d76658c3ca3d0f6262f950bb93c05554.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=RL/html/RL34292_files&id=/1.png": "files/20200512_RL34292_images_a7245e9889ab8b500822e4882e24403ebf2f1738.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=RL/html/RL34292_files&id=/0.png": "files/20200512_RL34292_images_435cdd0cca6a213e46fca4acb9260c0661771578.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=RL/html/RL34292_files&id=/4.png": "files/20200512_RL34292_images_2fb995bcd16885d4bf5825184f1bb02411f725e1.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL34292", "sha1": "2023354cc06b0a4425a2c5e02c0b13024426d206", "filename": "files/20200512_RL34292_2023354cc06b0a4425a2c5e02c0b13024426d206.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4754, "name": "Intellectual Property" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4765, "name": "Trade Agreements & WTO" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4866, "name": "U.S. Trade Policy Overview" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 447047, "date": "2015-09-02", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T18:28:12.278036", "title": "Intellectual Property Rights and International Trade", "summary": "This report provides background on intellectual property rights (IPR) and discusses the role of U.S. international trade policy in enhancing IPR protection and enforcement abroad. IPR are legal rights granted by governments to encourage innovation and creative output by ensuring that creators reap the benefits of their inventions or works. They may take forms such as patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks, or geographical indications. Congress has constitutional responsibility for legislating and overseeing IPR and international trade policy. Responsibility for developing IPR policy, engaging in IPR-related international negotiations, and enforcing IPR laws cuts across multiple U.S. government agencies.\nThe protection and enforcement of IPR is an important and longstanding component of U.S. international trade policy and U.S. trade negotiating objectives. U.S. trade policy also seeks to address new and evolving issues in the IPR landscape related to the growing role of emerging markets in the global market place and the increased level of digital trade. \nSince the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the 1995 World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) at the, trade policy has been used to advance IPR rules internationally. The TRIPS Agreement set minimum standards for IPR protection and enforcement. The United States engages in efforts with other trading partners to build on the TRIPS Agreement, particularly through the negotiation of regional and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs). To date, the United States has entered into 14 FTAs with 20 countries, which generally include IPR commitments exceeding obligations under the TRIPS Agreement (\u201cTRIPS-plus\u201d). IPR issues are prominent in the ongoing U.S. FTA negotiations of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP). On June 29, 2015, President Obama signed the Bipartisan Trade Promotion and Accountability Act (P.L. 114-26), known as Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), setting forth negotiating objectives on IPR. Many of these objectives are to seek to negotiate TRIPS-plus provisions in U.S. FTAs. \nOther trade policy tools also are available to advance U.S. international IPR objectives. Pursuant to Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974 as amended (P.L. 93-618), the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) identifies countries providing inadequate IPR protection in its annual \u201cSpecial 301\u201d report. Section 337 of the amended Tariff Act of 1930 authorizes the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) to prohibit U.S. imports that infringe on U.S. IPR. Additionally, under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the United States may consider a developing country\u2019s IPR policies and practices as a basis for offering or suspending preferential duty-free entry to certain products from the country.\nIPR issues related to international trade policy may figure prominently in the 114th congressional agenda. Congress may:\nexamine the role of IPR in U.S. trade policy, including the implications of IPR trade negotiating objectives in Trade Promotion Authority (TPA); \nconduct oversight of implementation of the IPR commitments in existing trade agreements, as well as in the current U.S. trade negotiations on TPP and T-TIP;\nconduct oversight of the role of IPR in U.S. economic growth and innovation, and how the protection and enforcement of IPR relates to other public policy goals, such as access to medicines in poor or developing countries and the free flow of data; \nconsider the possibility of additional policy options to address IPR concerns in emerging economies that are not a part of existing U.S. FTAs or included in current U.S. FTA negotiations, as well as new and evolving IPR issues, such as with respect to indigenous innovation, \u201cforced\u201d localization barriers to trade, and trade secret theft through cybercrime; and\nexamine the effectiveness of the current U.S. coordinating structure and the adequacy of current federal resources for promoting international IPR support.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL34292", "sha1": "4c500f7d2866b632084e0d4da19c14e92c627050", "filename": "files/20150902_RL34292_4c500f7d2866b632084e0d4da19c14e92c627050.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL34292", "sha1": "0c0c940a607234ff29c10cb12291ebe1e0326058", "filename": "files/20150902_RL34292_0c0c940a607234ff29c10cb12291ebe1e0326058.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 2688, "name": "Intellectual Property Rights" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 365, "name": "U.S. and International Trade Agreements" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": 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