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3-minute read
 Special to the USA TODAY Network

Key Points 
Foreign countries are increasingly ignoring U.S. patents and engaging in practices like compulsory licensing. Pennsylvania's economy, particularly its biotech industry, relies heavily on strong intellectual property protections.
Congress needs to hold the U.S. Trade Representative accountable for enforcing IP rights and preventing theft by foreign entities.

In the past few months, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have received more than a dozen patents, including for an experimental probiotic weight-loss therapy, a more durable and flexible solar cell and a new method of detecting and treating pancreatic cancer.
But Pitt doesn't have the ability — or the desire, for that matter — to spend the billions of dollars it'd take to turn these good ideas into real world products.
Instead, Pitt and other research universities across the Commonwealth typically license these patents to startups and small businesses. Those firms then take the initial breakthroughs and invest enormous sums in further research and development.
Unfortunately, these firms face a growing threat from foreign countries, which are increasingly invalidating or ignoring American patents and letting favored local companies steal the technology with impunity.
And over the past few years, the federal agency tasked with calling out such abuse has — much like Punxsutawney Phil — been scared of its own shadow, refusing to speak up for fear of offending trading partners.

It's time for Pennsylvania's congressional delegation to hold this agency accountable — and force it to hold foreign intellectual property thieves accountable in turn.

For nearly 40 years, Congress has required the Office of the United States Trade Representative to issue an annual report detailing how effective our trading partners are at preventing the theft of American intellectual property. For decades, the USTR wasn't shy about naming and shaming violators.

But starting in 2021, that annual document — known as the Special 301 Report — became noticeably less forceful in its defense of American firms' IP rights.
It's hard to overstate the importance of strong, predictable IP protections to Pennsylvania's prosperity. From advanced manufacturing to energy, biotech, and medical technology, most of our state's top industries wouldn't exist without reliable patents.
Pennsylvania isn't alone in this respect, of course. Nationally, IP-intensive industries support over 62 million jobs and generate more than 40% of national GDP.
Simply put, it's IP rights that make it worthwhile for inventors to take risks on new ideas and to do the hard work of translating scientific breakthroughs into real-world products. But would-be copycats abroad have no respect for property rights. By one estimate, IP violations now cost the U.S. economy as much as $600 billion annually.
One might expect that such widespread theft would provoke a harsh response from our trade officials. And yet in recent years, the USTR has grown less assertive in defending American IP. The Special 301 Report clearly illustrates this trend.
Take the issue of compulsory licensing. Under this practice, foreign governments give permission to domestic companies to violate U.S. patents with impunity.
Previous Special 301 Reports have been highly critical of compulsory licensing by countries including India, Ecuador, and Indonesia. But beginning in 2021, the Special 301 Report shied away from criticizing compulsory licensing -- and in some cases, even condoned the practice.
In the wake of this recent shift, many of our trading partners have shown a new willingness to employ compulsory licenses improperly. For instance, in 2023, the European Commission began work on a new system for granting these licenses. The following year, Colombia issued its first-ever compulsory license on a state-of- the-art HIV drug.

The U.S. Trade Representative's recent failures are especially bad news for Pennsylvania's biotech industry. The life sciences sector is one of the Commonwealth's most important, responsible for more than $61 billion in annual economic activity and directly employing more than 100,000 workers. Between 2016 and 2020, Pennsylvania bioscience researchers qualified for an impressive 20,564 patents — placing us in the top five of all states.
By diluting both the substance and the rhetoric of these reports, the U.S. Trade Representative effectively signaled to American entrepreneurs and inventors that the federal government wouldn't try to stop foreign countries from stealing the fruits of their labor.

That message needs to change in the next report, which is expected sometime this spring. Pennsylvania's representatives in Congress should make this a priority in their constitutional oversight responsibilities. The next Special 301 Report must take a strong stand against compulsory licensing — as well as other unfair practices such as restrictive patenting requirements and price controls. A robust account will be crucial for fulfilling the White House's new trade policy, which aims to reinvigorate U.S. leadership in promoting a strong global IP network.
Left unchallenged, IP violations will undermine the spirit of experimentation, risk-taking, and ingenuity that has powered Pennsylvania's economy since Ben Franklin.
Former Democratic Congressman Ron Klink served four consecutive terms representing Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional District.