New IDEA to boost patent support

The US Chamber of Commerce has bolstered its backing of the patent system by launching a new IP coalition. Aiming to safeguard America's IP-rich industries which employ 18 million people and are worth $5 trillion of GDP the Innovation, Development and Employment Alliance (IDEA) will consider how the US IP regime can be adapted to the demands of global trade. In particular, it hopes to improve the conditions for green and medical innovations, in ways that will benefit IP holders and end users alike.

Led by the Chamber's Global Intellectual Property Center, and counting General Electric (GE), Bendix and SunRise Solar among its members, the group has described its main goal as 'communicating the fundamental role of innovation in developing breakthrough solutions to global challenges'. In order to fulfil that aim, it plans to:

• Educate and recruit champions in the legislative and executive branches of US government to support innovation and strengthen the IP system
• Target countries with lax IP regimes and back local stakeholders in their efforts to oppose any further weakening of IP Rights
• Work collaboratively on constructive solutions for access-to-technology issues in the developing world

In its first statement, IDEA set out a critique of certain IP practices that have prevailed in developing economies, with a special focus on compulsory licences. In the coalition's view, governments that undertake such practices 'often without consulting the patent holder' are acting 'improperly' and attacking US patent laws.

'Instead of recognising the critical role that IP plays in spurring innovation and development,' said IDEA, 'special interest groups have bought into the notion that weakening [IP Rights] through mechanisms like compulsory licensing and the forced transfer of technology are legitimate policy options. They fail to recognise that these policy decisions dissolve incentives for innovators to develop new, cutting-edge technologies.

'IDEA is committed to protecting the rights of innovators and ensuring the next generation of technologies are appropriately funded and deployed,' the group added.

David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the Chamber's Global Intellectual Property Center, said: 'IP Rights incentivise the innovation that helps solve global problems and will lead to recession-beating economic growth and job creation. IDEA's first order of business is to ensure Congress and the administration promote innovation and jobs policies that protect IP-based incentives.'

Carl Horton, GE's chief IP counsel, joined with Hirschmann in welcoming IDEA's creation and explained that his firm has already made progress with its dedicated R&D stream for clean-energy solutions. 'Innovative projects like those in GE's Ecomagination initiative,' he said, 'prove that new energy technologies help fuel economic growth, create a new generation of green collar jobs, and help us be responsible environmental stewards.

'Technology has to be part of any climate change policy,' he added, 'and strong IP rights will help spur the development and fair transfer of clean energy technologies.'

For more details about IDEA's plans, please visit www.ideasforinnovation.org.