Former Trump officials: Strong intellectual property protection is crucial for American national security

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If America loses its next war, the reason will not be the power of the enemy’s fire. Our failure to protect intellectual property rights (IP) that feeds pioneering innovation.

Experts warn that to counter the increasing threats from China and other opponents, the United States must remain at the forefront in critical defense areas such as artificial intelligence, drones and quantum computing. But innovation requires investment, and investors will not bet on new technology unless they are confident that IP is safe. Simply put, without strong and implemented IP rights, we risk the research and development that keeps America safe.

The development of penetration technologies routinely takes years – decades – and billions of dollars. Success stories seizure of newspapers, but most efforts end in failure. Patents provide a decisive incentive by giving creators exclusive rights to their inventions for a specific period, ensuring that others cannot simply copy and profit from their hard work.

The importance of IP protection is not theory. Invention patents directly enhance business growth, job creation, and technological progress. A study by the National Office for Economic Research found that the company’s approval of the first patent leads to a 36 % jump in employment growth and an increase of 51 % in sales over five years. The startups that win the first invention are also more invent, resulting in 49 % patents on the road.

These results are not surprising. Without patent rights, the innovator can spend years developing only a new technology to obtain a competitor that invalidates and steals his invention at eleven o’clock. As a result, most startups will fight to increase the external investment needed to bring promising ideas-but early-to fruits.

However, with a patent at hand, everything changes. Strong IP protection provides security, making investors more ready to support risk research and development efforts. Evidence for numbers: startups that contain safe patents, on average, approximately 75 % financing of investment capital deals more than those that they cannot improve and expand their innovations.

The world -class patent system has fueled the development of countless life, even saving life, ranging from renewable drugs and energy techniques to materials at the level of weapons and powerful computer programs. Its strengthening is the most way to ensure America’s leadership in technologies that will determine the geopolitical scene in the twenty -first century.

Get a problem

But there is a problem with the dispensing of the horizon. Instead of strengthening this installed system, some activists want to weaken it under the guise of “lowering prices”. Patent seizure proposals undermined American universities and technology to foreign competitors private sector confidence in patents. Likewise, the legal loopholes and the outdated patent rules that made it difficult made it difficult for al -sabotage starters to protect their ideas from theft.

Meanwhile, China takes the opposite approach, enhancing its system to gain a strategic advantage in the areas of critical task. Beijing has established specialized patent courts and amended eligibility rules to encourage investment in the critical areas where the patent law in the United States is lagging behind. They also made a number of reforms to facilitate inventors to confirm their IP rights. By giving priority to innovation friendly policies, China places itself in the superiority of the United States in emerging technologies.

The consequences are clear. China is now leading the United States in 57 of 64 major technology, according to a study funded by the Foreign Ministry from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Defense analysts warn that if the war broke out today, the technological defect of America may be catastrophic.

The promotion of IP rights is not only related to national security – it is related to economic security. Intensive industries for IP 41 % of US economic production pay 63 million jobs.

President Trump’s national security strategy clearly: “The growing and innovative economy allows the United States to maintain the world’s most powerful army and protect our country.” Recently, he called for “Reviv (ing) our industrial base, with priority in critical defense industries.”

President Trump is right: America’s ability to deter war – or win, if the battle becomes inevitable – is to restore and then maintain a technological feature.

His administration has the power to pay investment in new technologies that protect our national security. To do this, the administration must guarantee that the United States issues strong, reliable and implemented IP rights and that companies can keep these rights once they are issued.

To do this, we must strengthen our patent system. This means stronger protection for inventors, numerical enforcement, and renewed commitment – whether in words or in action – to enhance innovation. Our national security depends on this.

The opinions expressed in cutting comments Fortune.com are only the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily reflect opinions and beliefs luck.

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