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The country’s share of global patent filings has grown rapidly in recent years, part of a deliberate strategy to make IP and patents a new tool of economic competition.
Innovation, industrial policy, predatory trade practices, and export controls usually frame the discussion of global technology competition. The contest over semiconductors and artificial intelligence attracts the most attention. But these are not the only issues. The role of “intangibles,” including standards, patents, and the ability to create new intellectual property, is equally important.
Intellectual property (IP) is the engine of an innovation economy. IP makes up most of the value of major companies. The World Intellectual Property Organization, the multilateral body that coordinates global IP protection, puts this at two-thirds of global income. IP-intensive industries account for nearly 40 percent of U.S. GDP and are America’s most valuable asset.
IP laws (like patents and copyright) allow creators to protect their innovations and incentivize future innovation. Unsurprisingly, this makes IP an attractive target for “appropriation” by unscrupulous actors, including those in the private sector and more worryingly, China. This is why the rules that protect IP are so important.
