CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — As I’m here listening to talk about trade and international IP enforcement under President Obama, I’m thinking about the great editorial in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

This is the second time I have praised Kirk on this blog. It is clear that he, like U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Gary Locke, understand the critical role copyright protection plays in promoting creativity, jobs and growth. The piece came on the heels of World IP Day on Sunday. Here’s the opening of Kirk’s op-ed:

American innovation and creativity are the pillars of our country’s continuing economic development. But key to any nation’s economic success is the ability to trade intellectual property – including the goods and services that flow from new ideas – in a rules-based system around the world. In recognition of World Intellectual Property Day, which we celebrated Sunday, all countries should step up and acknowledge their stake not only in safeguarding their own intellectual property, but in respecting other nations’ intellectual property as well.

Intellectual property – embodied in products like films, software, music, and other goods and services – can hit the global marketplace sometimes with just a keystroke. If we’re not vigilant, it can vanish after that. The reality of today’s economy is that there are those who seek their own profit at the expense of others’ ingenuity, through counterfeiting and piracy of intellectual property.

And note this:

In the president’s trade policy agenda, we noted that this administration “will protect American innovations and creativity by negotiating and enforcing strong and effective intellectual property protections.” The White House has already announced its intention to name an intellectual property enforcement coordinator, and I will continue to work closely with the president, with Congress, and with our trading partners to ensure a rules-based system across the board.

Again, we have great confidence in President Obama on IP enforcement, as we stated in our recent letter to him and his Administration.

Share this:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 2:23 pm by Patrick Ross and is filed under Obama, World IP Day, counterfeit, economy, events, international, piracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.