by Alex Athans, Legal TeamNovember 4, 2008 marked a historic occasion for Americans from all walks of life. Now that the dust—and the rhetoric—have settled, president-elect Barack Obama begins the challenging task of putting together his cabinet and preparing his policies for his inauguration on January 20, 2009. In a presidency sure to be fraught with many difficult challenges, where does intellectual property come on his list of priorities? According to several experts, intellectual property laws will likely see little of the change that Obama made the hallmark of his campaign. J. Scott Evans, Senior Legal Director, Global Brand and Trademarks, at Yahoo! Inc., opines that the Democrats’ traditional focus on regulation will have little effect on the intellectual property realm, due to the regulatory nature of existing patent and trademark law.
However, intellectual property has the potential to stimulate the United States’ ailing economy. This past October, President George W. Bush created the position of Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC) as a part of the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (PRO-IP) Act, designed to increase both civil and criminal penalties for trademark and copyright infringement. While there is some uncertainty as to what exactly the IPEC’s function will be, some like Evans feel that “[r]ight now most people in the wider IP community are looking for somebody who can help use government to stem the tide of counterfeits. Somebody to act as a liaison between brand owners and governments, both in the United States and abroad.”
Ultimately, IPEC’s function will depend on who is appointed. Some, like Eric Goldman, associate professor of law at Santa Clara University School of Law, find it unlikely that Obama would appoint an IP “maximalist,” and instead opt for someone who will protect IP rights while working while working with Obama’s proposed chief of technology “who might not necessarily be in favor of expanded IP rights.” It could work brilliantly, says Goldman, or the IPEC could be “just another bureaucrat.”
2009 will prove to be an interesting time in the intellectual property world, as IP rights could become a major piece in the country’s new economic direction.
Source: Sedo.com -- Reprinted with permission -- November 11, 2008