Question

How did poor intellectual property laws benefit the United States during the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 1

International piracy of intellectual property rights has emerged as one of the most important foreign policy issues for many industrialized countries, particularly the United States. U.S. companies have suffered greatly from the lack of rigorous and uniform international standards for intellectual property rights. The absence of intellectual property laws in developing countries costs U.S. firms one dollar for every three dollars of revenue gained from exported products, PhRMA, Opportunities and Challenges for Pharmaceutical Innovation 3 (1996), while inadequate international enforcement of existing laws is estimated to cost U.S. industry up to $80 billion per year. Report of the United States Trade Representative's Intergovernmental Policy Advisory Committee (IGPAC) to the Congress of the United States on the Agreements Reached in the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations 22 (1994).