Scores in the 2019 International IP Index are based on eight key categories relating to IP rights: patent rights, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, commercialization of IP assets, enforcement, systemic efficiency, and membership in and ratification of international treaties. Those eight categories encompass 45 separate indicators pertinent to assessing the strength of an IP system.
Because scoring for this year’s Index is based on 45 indicators instead of 40 as in last year’s Index, a weighted-score was calculated to determine whether countries’ protections of IP rights were stronger or weaker than that calculated in last year’s Index. Among the 50 countries, 23 improved their weighted-scores in the 2019 Index. Many of the improved scores came from developing countries.
For the seventh consecutive year, the United States had the highest score. The U.S. IP system rated 42.66 out of 45. The United Kingdom and Sweden followed with scores of 42.22 and 41.03, respectively. The countries with the lowest scores were Egypt, Algeria, and Venezuela at 11.83, 10.28, and 7.11, respectively.
Despite the United States’ leadership, there are some areas of weakness discussed in the Index. For example, the United States has a perfect score with regard to encouraging creativity by virtue of strong copyright protections, but it lacks an effective enforcement regime to disable access to websites which facilitate pirated content and counterfeit goods. A
2017 report
by the IP Commission found that the annual cost of counterfeit goods, pirated software, and theft of trade secrets to the U.S. economy is between $225 billion and $600 billion.
To combat online piracy, Congress can help by updating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s
notice and takedown system
under Section 512. My
October 2018 FSF blog
stated that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) strengthens IP rights protections and enforcement relative to the North American Free Trade Agreement’s (NAFTA) IP Chapter. However, the USMCA failed to address the outdated “notice and takedown” provision to improve its protection for creators' content.
Moreover, modernizing the U.S. Copyright Office by updating its technological capabilities to maintain a readily searchable database of copyright registrations would be helpful. So too would be giving the Copyright Office the authority to address Section 512 matters and establishing a process for adjudicating small infringement claims. Congress should act to modernize the Copyright Office to enable it to adequately address piracy issues and other copyright-related infringements.
While there was significant improvement among many of the developing countries in GIPC’s Index, the low scores in many developing countries reinforces the need for U.S. pursuit of trade agreements that better secure protections for IP rights holders internationally. As more countries adopt strong protections of IP rights through trade agreements, the entire global economy also will grow substantially, because legal institutions, including regimes that safeguard IP rights, constitute a positive externality for the global economy. The mutual gains from global trade increase when more nations adopt and enforce laws that protect IP rights.
Importantly, the Index emphasizes that there is a “strong correlation between the strength of the national IP environment and different types of economic activity, including rates of R&D spending, innovation, technology creation, and creativity.” Across all countries, the Index found several noteworthy correlations between strong IP protections and economic innovation and creativity. On average, IP-driven countries:
- Are 26% more competitive,
- Are 53% more likely to employ high-skilled and high-paid workers,
- Are 33% more likely to receive private-sector investment in R&D activities,
- Are 39% more likely to attract foreign investment,
- Have over 4 times more online and mobile content generated,
- And are twice as likely to produce and export complex, knowledge-intensive products.
Strong protections for IP rights incentivize investment in research and development, innovation, and creative content production because they ensure entrepreneurs have an opportunity to earn a return on their labors. And as economies with strong IP rights regimes grow and prosper, consumers are the ultimate beneficiaries as new goods and services, in whatever form they take, are brought to market.
In sum, the International IP Index provides U.S. and foreign policymakers a useful tool for assessing the need to improve their IP systems so that they can enhance innovation and creativity in today’s economy.
