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Protecting U.S. intellectual property rights

By Dennis Blair and Jon Huntsman Jr., Published: May 21

Adm. Dennis Blair was director of national intelligence from January 2009 to May 2010 and was head of the U.S. Pacific Command from February 1999 to May 2002. Jon Huntsman Jr. was governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009 and U.S. ambassador to China from 2009 to 2011.

At a time when the U.S. economy is struggling to provide jobs, the hemorrhage of intellectual property (IP) — our most important international competitive advantage — is a national crisis. Nearly every U.S. business sector — advanced materials, electronics, pharmaceuticals and biotech, chemicals, aerospace, heavy equipment, autos, home products, software and defense systems — has experienced massive theft and illegal reproduction.
The individual stories are infuriating. In one recent instance, a foreign company counterfeited a high-tech product it had been purchasing from a U.S. manufacturer. The customer then became the U.S. company’s largest competitor, devastating its sales and causing its share price to plummet 90 percent within six months.