Please, Speaker Pelosi, Don't Give Foreigners an Open Invitation to Steal Our Intellectual Property!

Word on the Hill is that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might be trying to strip the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) of its Intellectual Property chapter. Yet one of the greatest benefits of the USMCA over its precursor, NAFTA, is that it strengthens intellectual property protections for American innovators.

Here are some of the comparisons:

NAFTA: Incomplete national treatment for copyright.
USMCA: Full national treatment for copyright.

NAFTA: Copyright term of life of author + 50 years or publication + 50 years.
USMCA: Copyright term of life of author + 70 years of publication + 75 years.

NAFTA: No copyright safe harbor to deter online piracy.
USMCA: Establishes copyright safe harbors to deter online piracy.

NAFTA: No explicit requirement to apply enforcement obligations to the digital environment.
USMCA: Requires application of enforcement measure to the digital environment.

NAFTA: Minimum 10-year protection for industrial designs.
USMCA: Minimum 15-year protection for industrial designs.

NAFTA: No patent term extension for unreasonable patent office and regulatory delays.
USMCA: Mandates patent term extension for unreasonable patent office and regulatory delays.

NAFTA: Does not require criminal procedures and penalties for camcording.
USMCA: Requires criminal procedures and penalties for camcording.

NAFTA: Weak and general trade secret protection.
USMCA: Strong civil and criminal trade secret protections, including against misappropriation by state-owned enterprises.

NAFTA: 5 years of data protection for agricultural chemicals.
USMCA: 10 years of data protection for agricultural chemicals.

NAFTA: No mandatory ex officio authority for customs officials to stop suspected counterfeit goods.
USMCA: Requires ex officio authority for customs officials to stop suspected counterfeit goods.

NAFTA: Does not require criminal penalties and remedies for cable theft.
USMCA: Requires criminal penalties and civil remedies be available for both satellite and cable theft.

NAFTA: No explicit data protection for biologic medicines.
USMCA: Provides for 10 years of data protection for biologic medicines.

NAFTA: No data protection for new indications or new combinations for pharmaceutical products.
USMCA: 3 years of data protection for new indications or 5 years for new combinations for pharmaceutical products.

Why would Speaker Pelosi want to deny protections to America’s most creative and innovative people—inventors, scientists, researchers, architects, artists, actors, writers, musicians, and so on? The Speaker should seek to provide a level playing field for U.S. innovators, not to provide an open invitation to foreigners to steal our stuff.

We urge Speaker Pelosi to stand up for intellectual property protections and to ensure they are integral components in the USMCA.