On Thursday, March 21, the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP) hosted a press conference to commemorate the release of its inaugural Congressional Innovation Scorecard.
Panelists discussed the need for robust intellectual property rights — including copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and patents — to support America’s innovation economy and global competitiveness. The Scorecard’s drafters also led a presentation on the methodology C4IP employed to assign a grade to every sitting member of the 118th Congress.
C4IP considered members’ voting records, bill sponsorship and co-sponsorship, and national leadership and advocacy efforts on IP during the 116th, 117th, and 118th Congresses to determine a score for each legislator on a simple academic “A-F” grading scale commonly used in schools and universities.
IP-intensive industries generate nearly half of U.S. GDP, comprise 90% of the value of S&P 500 companies, and support approximately 44% of total U.S. employment for workers across all levels of education.
Despite this, the Scorecard results demonstrated an overwhelming need for Congress to engage on IP-related issues, with a supermajority of Congress receiving a “C” or “C-.”
Check out our press release on the Scorecard, as well as additional photos and a recording of the press conference below!
Speakers
- David Kappos, former under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (2009-2013) and current co-chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
- Andrei Iancu, former under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (2018-2021) and current co-chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
- The Honorable Paul Michel (Ret.), former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (2004-2010) and current board member of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
- The Honorable Doug Collins, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia’s 9th congressional district (2013-2021)
- Frank Cullen, executive director of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP)
- Meir Pugatch, scorecard methodology expert at Pugatch Consilium