(Approved by the IEEE-USA
Board of Directors, 16 Nov. 2000)

IEEE-USA recommends that the Administration develop an overall approach to the handling of federal intellectual property protection, including the restructuring of the existing intellectual property organizations.

Intellectual property is now a significant and growing component of our national economy. From Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy - The 1999 Report by the International Intellectual Property Alliance: "In 1997, the total copyright industries contributed an estimated $529.3 billion to the U.S. economy, accounting for approximately 6.53% of GDP. ... The absolute growth rate of value added to GDP by the core copyright industries between 1977 and 1997 was 205%." and in the April 1998 report, The Emerging Digital Economy, published by the U.S. Department of Commerce: "the IT sector ... constitutes an estimated 8.2 per cent of the gross domestic product... The IT sector, moreover, accounts for more than one-quarter of the real economic growth in the American economy."

IEEE-USA believes that a unified approach to Federal intellectual property protection policy can benefit current protection and can better accommodate new forms of protections, such as protection for fast-moving technologies against knock-off copying or federal protection for databases beyond copyright. This intellectual property policy should be made at the highest levels in the Administration. We suggest that a model much like that for the Office of Science and Technology Policy and associated science committees be considered.

IEEE-USA also believes that the handling of patents, copyrights, trademarks, and any new form of intellectual property be given to independent operational agencies for each particular form of intellectual property as appropriate. Each of these operational agencies should be fee-supported, with flexibility in setting their fees subject to the oversight of Congress and following proper administrative procedures, as appropriate.

IEEE-USA also believes that all fees collected by these agencies should remain in the respective agency. In the past, the appropriation process has been to the detriment of the quality of the patenting process and to patent applicants in particular due at least in part to the political nature of the appropriations process. Patent application fees have been diverted from the needs of the Patent Office to fund unrelated activities.

IEEE-USA also believes that the functions of the patent, trademark, and copyright offices, and any other new agencies, that benefit the public, such as providing material for the Library of Congress and making information available to all on the Internet, should be funded through general tax revenues.

This statement was developed by the IEEE-USA Intellectual Property Committee, and represents the considered judgment of a group of U.S. IEEE members with expertise in the subject field. The IEEE-USA promotes the career and technology policy interests of the 230,000 electrical, electronics, and computer engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.--United States of America
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Last Update:  21 Nov. 2000
Staff Contact: Bill Williams, bill.williams@ieee.org