Trade Secrets & Agreements – Top Priorities for San Diego’s Economy

As the Union Tribune reported on last week, President Obama has prioritized protecting American companies from being robbed of their intellectual property by signing the Defend Trade Secrets Act (“Obama signs bill to deter theft of trade secrets, May 11”). As a center of IP intensive industries like software development and biotechnology, San Diego’s economy relies on companies who are profitable because they own and control the use of their innovations and trade secrets.

Increasingly, local companies face the threat of foreign entities that steal their ideas and technology to sell them abroad or back to American consumers. This activity undermines the incentive for American companies to invest in research, development and design – the core of our innovative nature.

Passing the Trans Pacific Partnership and other international trade agreements will also help to standardize economic regulation between the U.S. and our trade partners – helping to reign in the threat of IP thieves. As Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf stated in a blog post from February, “By expanding market access for technology products, strengthening the protection of intellectual property and enhancing regulatory transparency, the TPP will create jobs, foster new market opportunities and help bring advanced mobile technologies and services to more consumers, businesses, and countless others in San Diego and beyond.” Let’s call on Congress to ratify the TPP and prioritize American innovation abroad.

Let’s call on Congress to ratify the TPP and prioritize American innovation abroad.