Washington DC, May 6 (KNN) The USTR Special 301 Report 2015 outlined how the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) offers a unique opportunity for many of the countries included in the report to build a foundation to help pivot these economies from being net-consumers of intellectual property to net-exporters in the knowledge economy.

US Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) President and CEO David Hirschmann in a release stated that the report offered a compelling rationale for countries to adopt much more ambitious IP models to help drive economic growth and job creation, a message consistent with the findings of GIPC’s International IP Index.

Welcoming the USTR’s continued attention to persistent IP challenges in India and China, Hirschman said that with an enhanced commitment to IP, China and India will enjoy earlier access to innovative products from the US. It will encourage the creativity of nearly three billion citizens whose innovative potential remains largely untapped.

The Special 301 Report and the GIPC Index have also both identified specific areas including patentability requirements, use of compulsory licensing, forced technology transfer and localization, and copyright protection, among others, where reforms to strengthen IP would deliver immediate benefits for the US, Indian and Chinese economies.

The US Chamber’s Special 301 submission to USTR provided an overall assessment of both global systemic IP trends and significant IP issues affecting the economies of the countries including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, European Union, India, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, and Thailand. (KNN/ST)