The Foreign Service Journal, February 2011

34 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1 This year’s report will follow one from the U.S. International Trade Commission on the nature and scope of intellectual property right infringement in China and the IPEC’s updated report on the im- plementation of the Joint Strategic Plan. Reinforcing the importance of the issue, the Congressional Inter- national Anti-Piracy Caucus tradi- tionally issues its own watch list after the publication of each Special 301 Report. Success Stories While piracy affects the entire U.S. economy, counter- feit medicines are a particularly serious global menace. Recognizing that it is vital to our interests at home and abroad to address this challenge, numerous agencies and bureaus within State are cooperating on this issue. One of IPE’s contributions is in working with posts and the Bu- reau of Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy to undertake a global campaign against counterfeit medicines. In 2010, our office worked in various locations to increase public awareness about the dangers of these products. • Consulate General São Paulo organized awareness seminars bringing together the University of São Paulo and the University of Texas College of Pharmacy, fostering vi- brant discussion among approximately 200 pharmacy stu- dent participants. • Embassy Colombo worked with key private-sector and public-sector partners to conduct the first in a series of four workshops across the country under the banner “Pro- tecting Sri Lankan Families from Counterfeit Drugs.” This program received nationwide media attention and re- sulted in public commitments by Sri Lanka’s minister of health and local pharmaceutical industry groups to take immediate steps to fight counterfeit drugs. • Embassy Nairobi partnered with the Kenyan govern- ment and the private sector to conduct the first two of four public town hall outreach events in the capital and in Mombasa. The latter meeting garnered a large amount of press coverage, including a radio interview with program speakers broadcast to more than a million listeners. Other countries where State Department-funded pub- lic diplomacy programs to address this problem have been implemented or are planned include Bolivia, Peru, Jordan, Congo (Brazzaville), Bosnia, Ukraine, Paraguay, Sudan, Tanzania and Guinea. IPE also benefits from public outreach efforts by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other senior department officials, who regularly stress the importance of protecting intellectual property rights. This underscores the fact that for the United States, protection of our intellectual property is a core national economic interest. A recent World Bank study on the impact of patenting, as it relates to economic growth in 92 countries from 1960 to 2000, found that a 20-percent increase in the annual number of patents granted, regardless of where the technologies orig- inated, was associated with an increase of 3.8 percent in output. Engaging with China on IPR Understandably, the need to support innovation and protect intellectual property rights is highlighted in the National Export Initiative, and no country receives more scrutiny in this respect than China. U.S. exports to the People’s Republic of China have quadrupled since 2000, making it America’s fastest-growing export market. But concerns persist regarding Beijing’s commitment to the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, so we continue to engage with the Chinese at the highest levels on this issue. Over the past year, U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Robert D. Hormats and Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator Victoria Espinel, as well as numerous congressional delegations and other U.S. government officials, have all stressed the importance of IPR enforcement and protection with their Chinese coun- terparts. They have emphasized that such protection is not just for the benefit of multinationals, but is crucial to promoting innovation within China. When Under Secretary Hormats addressed a recent In- ternet Forum in Beijing, he noted that during at least 70 trips to the country he has regularly engaged his Chinese counterparts on the benefits of strengthening the PRC’s intellectual property rights regime. Under the direction of Amb. Huntsman, Mission China is building coalitions among U.S. and Chinese government officials, businesses and educators to strengthen IP protection and enforce- F O C U S President Obama appointed the first Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, Victoria Espinel, in December 2009.