Meg the intern here, thinking a little about IP law and international affairs. President Obama just wrapped up a two-day trip to Russia meant to “reset” U.S.-Russian government relations which he admitted had “suffered from a sense of drift” following the end of the Cold War. While the announcement of a new arms control plan by President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to reduce the number of nuclear warheads stockpiled in the U.S. and Russia was arguably the trip’s most significant development, President Obama also took some time to address future of U.S.-Russian trade relations in a commencement address delivered at the New Economic School in Moscow on Tuesday.

One of the issues emphasized by President Obama during his speech, and indeed throughout his time in Russia, was the country’s commitment to the rule of law. During the commencement address, President Obama stated that “rules must be binding. Violations must be punished. Words must mean something.” This idea that “a mature and effective legal system is a condition for sustained economic development” has also been one of President Medvedev’s main points of future government reform.

As it stands, Russia’s notoriously corrupt business interests and heavily restricted market policies contribute to an economic climate that is particularly unfavorable for attracting foreign investors. Perhaps this is a harsh view of the country’s current state of affairs, but it is one that is bolstered by today’s release of the World Economic Forum’s Global Trading Report 2009, which “measures and analyzes institutions, policies, and services enabling trade in national economies around the world.” The report ranked the Russian Federation 109 out of 121 covered economies in terms of international trade facilitation.

Contributing to rocky U.S.-Russian trade relations is the Russian government’s lax enforcement of intellectual property laws. Reforming such policies may bring President Medvedev a step closer to “promot[ing] the rule of law” and making Russia “a more dependable trading partner.” Changes will also be necessary as Russia seeks to join the World Trade Organization, either independently or as part of an announced union with Belarus and Kazakhstan. As it stands, Russia is the largest economy without membership in the WTO, an ongoing issue that President Medvedev is “determined” to remedy. While the Russian government’s desire for greater international legitimacy will be aided by improved and more widespread enforcement techniques, the U.S. economy will benefit as well – the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative’s 2009 Special 301 Report estimates that U.S. copyright industries lost $2.7 billion to Russian infringement in 2008. Andrew Noyes reported in The National Journal that Commerce Secretary Locke, the only cabinet member who travelled with the president this week, stated that IP was “on the agenda,” though it would likely take a backseat to broader issues (as was indeed the case). Although the importance of nuclear nonproliferation agreements cannot be overstated, Presidents Obama and Medvedev would do well to consider the role that IP law can play in “resetting” the U.S. and Russia’s shaky economic relationship.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 1:36 pm by admin and is filed under Obama, economy, international. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.