Potential intellectual-property priorities for the Trump Administration

[Commentary] In many areas of law and policy, the priorities of President-elect Donald Trump seem difficult to predict. But the context of intellectual property (IP) law and policy is different. Simply put, President-elect Trump will soon become – by far – the most experienced user of domestic and international IP rights ever to serve as the President of the United States. During his long business career, Trump pursued sophisticated, usually unified, branding strategies based upon his last name, had great success in the copyright industries, and has used the IP-like rights granted by state laws that protect reputational, privacy, and publicity rights.

The President-elect’s broad familiarity with US IP rights thus suggests a businessman’s approach to IP issues – one that focuses on practical issues, like cost-effective enforceability. Such an enforcement focus could also help strengthen middle-class America by ensuring that federal IP rights can be enforced by ordinary, local businesses, not just by coastal conglomerates. It could be implemented as follows:
Domestically, focus on improving private enforcement of US IP rights – particularly on the internet.
Internationally, focus on enforcing IP-related provisions of existing US trade agreements.

[Tom Sydnor previously served as Director of the Center for the Study of Digital Property at the Progress & Freedom Foundation.]