Speeches & Articles

Remarks by Consul General Beth A. Payne
At the international Intellectual Property Rights Conference
Taj Bengal Hotel, Kolkata
January 8, 2009

January 8, 2009

Mr. Sanjay Budhia, President, Indian Chamber of Commerce
Mr. V. Ravi, Controller General, Patent, Trademark and Design Indian Patent Office, Govt. of India
Mr. M. K. Agarwal, Managing Director, GATI Ltd.
Dr. D. R. Agarwal, Director, ITAG Business Solutions
Mr. Alan Casper, President-Elect, American Intellectual Property Law Association

Ladies and Gentlemen
 
Thank you for inviting me to join you in this valuable discussion about intellectual property rights (IPR) and how protection of these rights can accelerate development and growth of business.  IPR give the owners of ideas, inventions, and creative expression the right to exclude others from access to or use of their property for a certain period of time.  International treaties and the laws of various countries, however, differ significantly in terms of the degree of protection and enforcement available.
  
The U.S. provides a wide range of protection for intellectual property through the federal registration of trademarks and service marks; through federal patent protection and copyright protection; and, under state laws, through protection of trade secrets and marks.  Since these U.S. laws apply only in the U.S., its territories and possessions, they confer little or no protection in other countries.  To secure full patent rights in another country, one must apply for a patent in that country.  Unfortunately, IPR laws throughout the world are not standard and while the World Intellectual Property Organization provides a guide to IPR laws, trying to fulfill legal requirements for IPR protection in multiple countries can be a challenge.
 
Globalization and the rapid proliferation of technology have elevated the importance of intellectual property protection.  The intangible nature of intellectual property and the ease at which intellectual property can be distributed worldwide makes it even more important that businesses and artists throughout the world can protect their ideas, inventions, brands and business methods in multiple foreign markets.

Some critics of intellectual property rights characterize it as intellectual protectionism or intellectual monopoly and argue that the public interest is harmed by protectionist legislation such as copyright extension, software patents and business method patents.  Some even reject the term intellectual property altogether.  These critics advocate referring to copyrights, patents and trademarks in the singular and warn against abstracting disparate laws into a collective term.  Other criticism of intellectual property law concerns the tendency of the protections of intellectual property to expand, both in duration and in scope.  The trend has been toward longer and longer copyright protection raise fears that some day protections may be eternal.  Patents have even been granted for living organisms, and colors have been trademarked. 
 
However, I think most of us will agree that protection of intellectual property is a good thing, and that disagreement about when and how it should be enforced can best be worked out through dialogue.  Fortunately, the U.S. and Indian governments are having that dialogue right now.  As economic engagement between the U.S. and India strives to reach new heights, weak intellectual property enforcement can be a major barrier to increased trade.  As a result, improving protections for both Indian and U.S. intellectual property is an important area of U.S. and Indian cooperation. 
 
In December 2006, the U.S. and Indian governments signed an historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Bilateral Cooperation on intellectual property issues.  This MOU has opened the door for an unprecedented level of cooperation between the U.S. and India on training, raising public awareness on IPR issues and sharing of best practices.  In December 2008, the State Department announced assistance worth $250,000 to the New Delhi and Bangalore High Courts to provide training and technical assistance in the investigation and prosecution of intellectual property crime.
 
Cooperation is not limited to governments, however.  The U.S. and Indian private sector cooperate as well through two forums – the U.S.-India High Technology Cooperation Group (or HTCG) and the CEO Forum.  The HTCG works with the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to engage both the U.S. and Indian private sectors on issues concerning intellectual property. 
 
In April 2008, USIBC in partnership with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) launched the "Bollywood-Hollywood Initiative" to bring together U.S. and Indian stakeholders in our vast entertainment sectors to focus on issues of mutual concern such as piracy and counterfeiting.  This Initiative will include efforts to support public interest anti-piracy advertising, support the enactment of optical disc legislation, promote increased cross-border enforcement efforts, and raise awareness about the black market exchange of pirated Hindi films in the U.S.
 
This conference is another demonstration of the commitment both the U.S. and Indian governments have made to promoting innovation and trade by effectively protecting intellectual property rights.  Through the free exchange of ideas on this and other matters related to IPR, this conference can enrich participants’ knowledge about the subject, guide us to identify tools for efficiently managing intellectual property, and expose us to methods for protecting IPR while at the same time serving society.

Thank you.