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Intellectual property theft became an issue in the presidential campaign when Mitt Romney’s campaign released an ad claiming that President Barack Obama’s failure to stop China has resulted in the loss of 2.1 million American jobs. That figure was based on a scenario suggested in a 2011 report by the US International Trade Commission. The Times reported that Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt issued a statement defending the president’s China policies, but also attacking Romney. “Romney harshly criticizes the Chinese for intellectual property theft, but his 2011 tax return revealed that he invested in a Chinese version of YouTube, which ‘quickly became a haven for downloading illegal American content,’” LaBolt wrote. “Romney holds a partnership interest in Bain Capital funds that are invested in GOME, a Chinese electronics company that is being sued by Microsoft for piracy, as well as in Uniview Technologies, which supplies the Chinese government with video surveillance systems.” On August 6, 2012, US Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, the Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), released a report entitled “The Impact of Intellectual Property Theft on the Economy.” According to the American University Intellectual Property Brief (IP Brief), the report cited “one critical study, which showed that the average large company loses $101.9 million in revenues and pays out an additional $1.4 million to identify and enforce intellectual property right, leading to an average decline in profits of $46.3 million.” Casey’s report also called attention to some of the challenges that small businesses have in pursuing enforcement actions because of limited resources. Only 10.5 percent of small businesses file IP theft complaints despite representing 79 percent of US business, according to the IP Brief. Robert G. Klein Klein Trial Lawyers
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intellectual property, mitt romney, barack obama, youtube, joint economic committee, senator bob casey, the impact of intellectual property theft on t,
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