[Ip-health] IP Watch: US Presidential Candidates Reveal Positions On Some IP Issues

[Judit Rius Sanjuan]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Intellectual Property Watch
28 January 2008
US Presidential Candidates Reveal Positions On Some IP Issues
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=3D896
By Kaitlin Mara

Intellectual property rights issues have been finding their way into
the campaign platforms of candidates vying to become the next
president of the United States. The following is a look at IP
positions of the candidates so far.

The role of the Internet in alleged intellectual property
infringement, especially of copyrighted music and video content, has
been most frequently discussed. In particular, opinions on the use of
digital rights management technology, strategies for preventing piracy
and the desirability of Internet neutrality have played out in
candidates=92 statements and technology papers.

Less frequently on the table were issues of medical innovation, though
candidates did occasionally touch on the intellectual property aspects
of health care when discussing broader related platforms.

Leading Democratic candidates include: Illinois Senator Barack Obama;
New York Senator and former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, and
former vice presidential hopeful; and North Carolina Senator John
Edwards. Republican candidates include: Arizona Senator John McCain;
former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; former Arkansas Gov. Mike
Huckabee; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; and Texas
Representative Ron Paul. Other candidates also have mentioned IP
issues, and are included below.

[Note: matrix of candidate positions coming soon]

International Trade and IP

China=92s importance to the United States economy has been a hot-button
issue in the 2008 campaign, mainly focussed on economy and
environment. However, a few candidates raised concern with China=92s
growing technology sector and the importance of protecting
intellectual property rights abroad.

Democrat Barack Obama said in his economic plan that 90 percent of
DVDs sold in China are counterfeit and promises that he will =93work to
ensure intellectual property is protected in foreign markets, and
promote greater cooperation on international standards that allow our
technologies to compete everywhere.=94

John Edwards, a trial lawyer, called intellectual property =93a huge
issue in America=92s relationship with China=94 in a 2006 interview with
nonprofit educational institution Asia Society. He added that a
meeting with China=92s Commerce Minister convinced him that =93steps that
need to be taken to protect intellectual property are [not], in fact,
being taken=94 and that China=92s plan to stop piracy =93didn=92t sound rea=
l.=94

Hillary Clinton mentioned in an interview with the Council on Foreign
Relations that she wants =93the countries with whom we do business to
have protections for intellectual property=94 that are enforceable.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney, a businessman, said in a February
2007 speech that it is =93time to [en]sure they enforce our intellectual
property rights as well as they enforce their own,=94 and repeated in an
interview with technology blog TechCrunch that it had to be clear to
nations like China that violating American IP rights meant they were
=93going to suffer consequences in our [US] markets.=94

John McCain, a former military officer, promised to =93take [China] to
the WTO [World Trade Organization] [and] put pressure on them to stop=94
violating IP rights,=94 but added elsewhere that he was an avid
supporter of free trade and felt China=92s =93desire to construct a
knowledge economy implies a mutual interest in protecting intellectual
property and preventing counterfeiting.=94 McCain also said that =93a
developed Chinese economy [that] wants [its] intellectual property
rights respected is probably one of the best ways to encourage them to
respect intellectual property rights.=94

Both Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, and Rudy Giuliani, who
gained attention for his leadership role during the 11 September 2001
terrorist attacks, casually mention IP in relation to China, but
neither focussed on it strongly.

Copyrighted content

Copyright infringement made news several times in the past year, with
Viacom=92s suit against the video streaming site YouTube over copyright
content posted to the site by YouTube users, and the Recording
Industry Association of America threatening court cases against
universities in attempt to stem the tide of file-sharing on college
campuses.

Copyright on music and movies is an important benchmark issue for
intellectual property rights legislation, as it is the most readily
understood way in which IP policy touches people=92s lives and is thus
likely to be influential in forming opinions on the IP system.

In interviews with computer and technology weblog CNet, candidates
were asked about digital rights management (DRM), technology-based
solutions for preventing copyright infringement of digital content.
Democrats largely took the stance that a balance must be struck
between protecting the copyright of content owners and protecting the
fair use rights of consumers.

Clinton stated that she would support a =93review of a range of issues
related to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act insofar as it did not
concern degrading copyright protections or encourage copyright
infringements.=94

Edwards said that =93intellectual property laws and regulations should
better balance the industry=92s legitimate concerns over piracy with
common-sense consumer freedoms,=94 and called for government to
encourage full disclosure of freedoms and restrictions on digital
content, so that consumers might be better informed before making a
purchase.

Obama, who was the earliest candidate in the race to put together an
innovation platform, called for [pdf] a similar degree of balance,
noting that =93as policymakers, we are in a constant process of
examining our laws to ensure that the protections we place on
intellectual property are sufficient to encourage invention without
hindering innovation that builds on previous work or unfairly limiting
consumers from using the goods they purchase in a way that is fair to
creators.=94

Lesser-known Democratic candidate Mike Gravel took a more
philosophical stance in an interview with TechCrunch, asking whether
it was the intangible reward of self-expression or the tangible reward
of monetary gain that inspired artists to create.

Republican McCain also answered the CNet survey, and acknowledged that
the widespread availability of information in the digital age has
necessitated an update of copyright legislation in order to =93protect
the rights of copyright holders [and] to keep pace with the
technological advances that characterise the Information Age.=94
Strongly in support of IP protection, he cautioned that such
protections must never become =93so onerous as to stifle the very
innovation they strive to safeguard.=94

Ron Paul, a medical doctor who has inspired a vocally supportive
grassroots movement within the online social networking community,
confessed to not having studied the issue far enough, but added his
instinct was to allow for consumers to make back-up copies for
purchased products, so long as doing so did not violate the contract
entered into with the purchase.

Internet Neutrality

Recent developments have made the question of Internet neutrality an
intellectual property rights issue. An open Web has always been a
source for new thinking on intellectual property legislation, as the
instrument through which the open source movement and alternative
licensing schemes were made possible.

But major Internet service provider (ISP) AT&T is considering
filtering Internet content that may contain copyrighted works, as
technological measures aimed at limiting peer-to-peer file sharing of
copyrighted content have so far failed to prevent it from happening,
so the discussion of restrictions on Internet content has become about
IP protection versus fair use by consumers.

Internet neutrality has been a widely talked about campaign issue,
with all Democrats in favour of protecting neutrality and Republican
candidates more divided on the issue.

Among Democrats, Obama in particular promised [video] to make it a
priority in his first year of office to prevent ISPs from limiting
aspects to areas of the Internet, and Edwards promised to ensure the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) =93preserves free expression and
competition on the Internet by enforcing Net neutrality, ensuring no
degradation or blocking of access to Web sites.=94

Edwards went a step further in calling for neutrality on all
telecommunications, becoming the only candidate to write to the FCC,
which has been engaged in an auction for a high frequency band of
spectrum to encourage =93anyone winning rights to this valuable public
resource should be required not to discriminate among data and
services and to allow any device or application to connect to their
service.=94

Clinton also supported neutrality, and was an original cosponsor of
the Internet Freedom Preservation Act in 2006. She commented in an
interview with computing weblog CNet that =93it is the basic principles
of neutrality and nondiscrimination that have allowed the Internet to
flourish.=94

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee came out in favour of neutrality
in response to a question from conservative blogger Kevin Tracey,
saying =93The Internet is a highway and we don=92t restrict highways to 18-
wheelers=85 if it=92s a car, an SUV, or a truck, you use the same highway.=
=94

Other Republican candidates were not as supportive. McCain mentioned
letting technology and the market decide, but was unclear on what this
meant for policy. Guiliani has also been vague on major statements,
but TechCrunch deduced that he is not in favour.

Paul said in an interview with CNet that he did not support network
neutrality, and that =93legislation will hamper the development of new
Internet services and harm consumers in the long run. =85 The best way
to address the concerns of proponents of Net neutrality is to remove
government-imposed barriers to entry into the Internet provider market.=94

Republican candidate Duncan Hunter, who recently dropped out of the
race, also was very much against Internet neutrality, and showed
particular interest in finding means to filter =93obscene content=94 and
that which enables gambling.

Access to Medication

Most candidates spoke on access to generic medicines, which are off-
patent, and medical research.

Clinton has published an essay [pdf] on her plan to =93eliminate
loopholes in federal law that allow drug companies to use the courts
to prevent generic competitors from coming to market, increase funding
for the Office of Generic Drugs at FDA to eliminate the backlog of
generic drug applications, [=85] give the FDA the authority to approve
safe and effective biogeneric drugs=97ending the monopoly currently
enjoyed by large biopharmaceutical companies=94

Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic Senator from Ohio who quit the race on
25 January, was one of the few to publish a position paper [pdf] on
his campaign site detailing specifically his views on intellectual
property and medication. In the paper he stated: =93one of the main
reasons that drug costs are so high is that drug companies get legal
manufacturing monopolies through the patent system=94 and called for
more public funding of medical research so that private pharmaceutical
companies would have competition to drive down prices.

McCain also has a history of supporting generic manufacture and
opposing abuse of the patent system. His campaign site mentions he
supports easing the path for generics to get to market, and the
possibility of importing drugs from outside the country, saying he
would =93foster the development of routes for safe, cheaper generic
versions of drugs and biologic pharmaceuticals [and] develop safety
protocols that permit re-importation to keep competition vigorous.=94 He
also introduced a bill in 2002 to prevent manipulation of the patent
system by pharmaceutical companies in order to extend the life of
expiring patents and prevent or delay generics from reaching market.

Edwards has also said he will consider prizes for innovation research,
in cases where they might be more effective than patent monopolies. He
also encourages tax credits to incentivize experimentation to
encourage long-term commitment to research, and wants to =93modernise
patent laws=94 to provide further incentives for research.

Obama also spoke of the need to ensure access to more inexpensive
medications, saying he wants to =93prohibit big name drug companies from
keeping generics out of markets=94 and allow Americans to buy
pharmaceuticals abroad if the prices are cheaper and the drugs safe.

Paul said little on IP-related health issues, though he does accuse
the Food and Drug Administration of having a =93bias toward large
pharmaceutical companies=94 and cites this as a reason for Americans
seeking to order medicine from Canada.

Health care regulation blog Eye on FDA speculates that Paul would not
support generic drug promotion from the federal government, in line
with his largely libertarian stance on government regulation in
general. He did, however, support the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act
of 2003, which called for health practitioners to be allowed to import
drugs from a list of 25 nations where the same quality product was
available for a lower price than in the United States. Kucinich and
Edwards also supported the bill, according to the record.

Huckabee=92s stance on generic access is unclear. He said only that the
medical system is broken and the free market will make it more
competitive.

New York=92s Republican Rudy Guiliani also has said little about
generics, though he does advocate a streamlining of drug approval
processes, saying he would ensure =93government regulation does not
delay new cures or needlessly cost lives=94 and that =93the current
process is so regulated that a new drug takes 12 to 15 years to get to
the market.=94

Liza Porteus Viana contributed to this report.

Kaitlin Mara may be reached at kmara@ip-watch.ch.

Judit Rius Sanjuan
Attorney at Knowledge Ecology International
www.keionline.org / www.cptech.org
Phone: +1.202.332.2670, x18
Email: judit.rius@keionline.org