U.S. Trade Ambassador Ron Kirk today gave perhaps the most eloquent statement I’ve heard in some time on why enforcing international trade treaties is not protectionism, but common sense. When the U.S. government seeks enforcement of treaty obligations, he said, “we’re fighting for the rights of our American businesses.” Ambassador Kirk has spoken before about the importance of enforcing rights for copyright owners. At an event today at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in D.C., he focused on small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs), which happen to include artists and creators of all stripes.

An increasing percentage of individuals in copyright industries are self-proprietors or operators or employees of small shops. Historically the focus of these SMEs was the domestic market; it was not uncommon for the market for their copyrighted work to be limited to their immediate geographic area.

With the development of the Internet, however, every copyright-based SME has the ability to market and sell their copyrighted works around the world. A composer in Puget Sound can have a work commissioned by an entrepreneur in Portugal. A developer of an iPhone application in Nebraska can have that app downloaded in Nepal. A photographer in Alabama can have a prized image licensed for an ad campaign in Argentina. An author in Michigan can have an e-book downloaded in Mozambique.

The avenues available online for legal distribution of copyrighted works by U.S.-based SMEs have no limit. However, online infringement poses a significant threat to the ability of these SMEs to profit from their creativity. They also lack the resources to do much of anything about that infringement. Thus they rely more than any other rightsholders on international enforcement, an area where USTR and the Obama Administration can be of great assistance.

During his election campaign, President Obama in a statement articulated the importance of international copyright protection:

The Motion Picture Association of America estimates that in 2005, more than nine of every 10 DVDs sold in China were illegal copies. The U.S. Trade Representative said 80 percent of all counterfeit products seized at U.S. borders still come from China. Barack Obama will work to ensure intellectual property is protected in foreign markets, and promote greater cooperation on international standards that allow our technologies to compete everywhere.

Of course, much of the trade occurring with creators’ works, as the examples above show, involve creators taking advantage of the virtual world to find customers and sell the results of their creativity. International trade agreements respect creators’ rights regardless of what form the work happens to be.

USTR is about to conduct with other developing and developed nations the next round of an anti-counterfeiting trade agreement that seeks to fulfill Ambassador Kirk’s vision, namely to improve coordination and rights enforcement by nations that have already signed on the dotted line to make that commitment. That is to be admired.

Ambassador Kirk noted a new publication this week by the U.S. International Trade Commission that he said he and USTR requested on SMEs and trade — I’d note the report focuses pretty heavily on exports of manufactured goods, but in fairness that is the most easily obtainable data. That said, it becomes clear very quickly that SMEs not only drive our economy but are the strongest engine of job growth.

That includes individual artists and creators, and all of the SMEs who derive revenues from interaction with copyright industries, including all of the dry cleaners, restaurant owners and haberdashers that profit whenever a motion picture is filmed in their neighborhood. Ensuring enforcement of IP trade agreements for copyright owners of all sizes benefits our economy and our job outlook.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 21st, 2010 at 3:17 pm by Patrick Ross and is filed under Obama, creators, economy, events, international, piracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.