U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the
National Business Association Join Together to Fight IP Theft,
Stop Fakes.
Today, success in a market economy depends
more and more on intellectual property (IP) assets. Indeed,
IP-based businesses drive more economic growth in the United
States than any sector.
Unfortunately, the benefits of capitalizing
on intellectual property have captured the attention of counterfeiters
and pirates around the world-and the threat posed to the U.S.
economy by piracy and counterfeiting is staggering. Industry
groups estimate that every year, American businesses lose
$250 billion to copyright piracy and 750,000 jobs-again, per
year-to overall IP theft. Consumer safety is also at risk:
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates that 10 percent
of all pharmaceuticals in America are actually fake-and that
these fakes can cause serious complications or even death.
While all U.S. businesses are vulnerable
to IP theft, small businesses are often at a particular disadvantage.
In the fierce competition for the time of a typical small-businessman
or woman, things that go beyond payroll, accounting and general
operations-including IP protection-often get put on the back
burner, leaving small businesses at risk. In addition, small
businesses may not have the personnel and operations needed
to watch out for counterfeiters around the globe, so theft
of their IP overseas can often go undetected.
For more than 200 years, the United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been the overseer
of American intellectual property. Today, we are leading a
government-wide effort to ensure that small businesses have
the information they need to make informed decisions about
IP protection.
We want small businesses to think about intellectual
property protection from day one-at the inception of their
business-by asking themselves whether they need IP protection,
and if so, what kind (patents, trademarks or copyrights),
when and where to apply and how to go about doing so.
To help small businesses answer these and
many other questions, USPTO is sponsoring series of free seminars
around the country. Two seminars are currently scheduled for
the fall: September 12-13, in Austin, Texas; and September
26-27, in Miami, Florida. To register for these free seminars,
please visit www.uspto.gov.
We are proud to be working with NBA to help
small businesses-the engine of American economic growth-learn
more about protecting their most valuable asset: their ideas.
More information about USPTO's small business
initiative, along with a wealth of IP-related tools, can be
found at www.stopfakes.gov/smallbusiness.
