World IP Day Round Up from Susan Finston

This dispatch comes from, Susan Finston, BayhDole25, Inc. Chair, who attended World IP Day In Washington on Wednesday 26 April

Yesterday I heard, not for the first time, an interesting speaker who turns on its head the idea that intellectual property and the technology transfer it supports, benefits the rich at the expense of the poor. I have long been a fan of Professor Lee Reed, of the University of Georgia. He was the Keynote luncheon speaker at an Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) April 26th event held in honor of World Intellectual Property (IP Day). He noted, correctly, that since the dawn of time the rich have found a way to protect their property (and by extension IP), whether through high walls or private security. It is the poorest and least advantaged among us, whether individuals or nations, who are truly in need of protection of intellectual property, to ensure the freedom to exclude others. In his words, "property is liberty," in the most fundamental sense.

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) created World IP Day in 2000 to celebrate the date that the WIPO Convention came into force. www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/world_ip/2006/ In recognition of the day, two organizations, the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) (www.ipi.org/) and the Creative and Innovative Economy Center (CIEC) of George Washington University (GWU) Law School (www.law.gwu.edu/academics/ciec/ ), both held events in Washington DC, either jointly sponsored by or with participation of WIPO officials. (Full disclosure: I worked as a consultant on the IPI event.)

At the IPI World IP Day event held at the Willard Hotel yesterday, we heard about how international patent applications to the WIPO have literally skyrocketed since 1990, with Korea and China filing thousands annually. India filed no PCT applications in 1990, and in contrast filed over 700 in 2004. This is an important indication that innovators in those markets are exporting their innovations and seeking protection in foreign markets.

Also at the IPI event, the audience was treated to an acoustic guitar perfomance by Colombian Latin-Pop musician Erick Monterroza, who made a heartfelt appeal for improved copyright protection for Latin American song-writers and performers. In his words, these artists create music for all of us to take with us wherever we go, to make us happy, to help us cry, and just to be there in our life experiences. I think that we all have had experiences in life where we have been listening to a particular song or type of music. As Erick pointed out, these moments stay with us forever as our memories and color our lives. He pointed out that many, many musicians in Latin America don't benefit from their creativity, due to poor awareness and enforcement of copyright protection for music. This is a human right as well as an economic one.

Barun Mitra, Director of the Liberty Institute of India, talked about how local stakeholders, whether in the areas of books, software or pharmaceuticals, need to press governments to improve protection, and to demonstrate through their own commitment the importance of enforcement of their rights. Because Indian software and IT has gone global, he stated, the Government of India has now worked to reduce piracy, with rates down from 85 to 90% ten years ago to closer to 40% now. As a result, India has also enjoyed much faster Foreign Direct Investment, technology transfer, and overall growth in the IT sector than in pharmaceuticals, where local companies enjoyed protection and where investment had been slow to come until the passage last year of new product patent protection. He made the point that the Government decisions on the patent law were informed by India's success in IT.

Michael Ryan, Director of the GWU Law School Creative and Innovative Economy Center (CIEC) told a compelling story of tech transfer from Jordan, where King Abdullah II has a vision of being the Singapore of the region and has led the region in economic and social reforms. Within five years of Jordan's WTO accession and adoption of patent protection, Mike noted across the board benefit to Jordan's previously undifferentiated, and low-innovation pharma sector. What actually has been the impact, he asked rhetorically? Based on his research, Mike noted exports to 66 markets, including MENA, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Balkans, and Central Asia. By 2004, pharmaceuticals were Jordan's number one export.

In response to a question on China, Mike also made some very interesting points, as follows: China has been growing at more than 10% for more than 2 decades, at the same time being notorious for piracy and counterfeiting. He questioned whether this is really a path for other countries, suggesting that China was able to attract FDI and technology on the basis of its large local market. The Chinese have been very good at encouraging FDI, which has promoted double digit growth. He asked two key sets of questions for the audience to think about:

1. If you are not China, can you get FDI on the scale China has over 20 years? What if you improved your IP protection, would that increase the FDI?
2. Is it the case that learning would have been improved over the last 20 years? Was it reliant on making simpler stuff? Will China be able to learn better and to use IP as a tool? Will India overtake China on the basis of better IP?

John Kilama, President of the Global BioScience Development Institute (GBDI) pointed out that you cannot extrapolate what happened in industrial economic times to the current economy, as so many do. It isn't the case that because the U.S. or Europe grew 100 years ago by copying technologies that that is acceptable today. "We are in different times, where the new economy is based on intellectual equipment. If you attack this equipment, you destroy this economy," he concluded.

Later that evening, I also had the opportunity to attend the first Washington DC screening of the Nigerian television film "Wetin Dey?", sponsored jointly by WIPO and the CIEC. At this event, Fritz Attaway of the Motion Picture Association of America echoed the key point made earlier by Lee Reed, ie that it is the filmakers of the developing world that most need IP protection to attract continuing investment and to be able to express their creativity and innovation through their art. At this point, the BBC is supporting the project, but control of copyright piracy is viewed as critical to its ultimate sustainability and success.

The bottom line: at both of these events we learned how intellectual property serves a bridge for innovators and creators in the developing world to the U.S. and Europe. India and Jordan were cited by a number of speakers as countries with IP reforms now attracting record amounts of foreign direct investment and foreign technology. ( In India alone, general economic reforms, including IP reforms, have brought more than 100 million people out of abject poverty since 1990.) Not coincidentally, these are also two countries experiencing brain-gain. In this virtuous cycle, they are finding that rewarding innovation provides incentives for social and economic goods which in turn makes these societies increasingly attractive places to live. As Professor Lee Reed would put it, they are increasing the liberty of their people in their property, and that is a good thing.