American Exports - Intellectual Property (Part 1)

The U.S. economy is becoming less based in the manufacturing and production of consumer goods and more based in a legal term known as “Intellectual Property” (IP).

Intellectual Property is anything a person or entity invents, designs, or creates and has ownership of in the form of a patent, copyright, trademark, or trade secret. This can be a software program, a unique business process, a design for a product or a piece of clothing, a shampoo formula, a recipe, or anything one gets a patent for. Trademarks, logos and other copyrighted material such as writing, music, and videos are also IP. A secret formula or process (trade secret), even without a patent can be IP.

I bring this up because the issue of piracy needs to be addressed, both on the internet and in our trade policies, especially with China. China’s allowing of production of bootleg copies of American movies and even fake books hurts sales and lowers our national GDP. The Chinese Government also keeps royalties that U.S. publications would otherwise be earning at a time when the industry is hurting badly.

Which brings me to a couple of key points…