In a recent Washington Post opinion piece, C4IP Co-Chair and former USPTO Director David Kappos and former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Jeffrey Gerrish make the case that protecting American intellectual property overseas must remain a top priority for U.S. policymakers.
The authors point to the 2026 Special 301 Report, released in April, as a critical tool for calling attention to trading partners that fail to adequately protect American patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other IP rights. For decades, the report has helped identify countries where weak enforcement or unfair practices put U.S. innovators at a disadvantage.
Kappos and Gerrish explain that these failures carry real economic consequences. Intellectual property-intensive industries support tens of millions of American jobs and account for a significant share of U.S. GDP. When foreign governments allow companies to copy, misuse, or profit from American innovation without consequence, it harms not only U.S. businesses but also workers and investors.
In particular, they highlight growing concerns with certain allies, including the European Union, Mexico, and Canada. The European Union this year earned a spot on the Special 301 Report’s “watch list” for recent policy proposals that could weaken protections for American innovators, particularly in industries that rely on strong patent rights to support expensive, high-risk research and development.
“The E.U.’s actions are especially concerning because of its global influence. American companies and innovators already face poor IP protections when trying to sell to large markets, such as China and India,” Gerrish and Kappos explain. “Losing patent protections in the E.U. would further tilt the playing field against U.S. innovators, companies and investors pursuing ambitious and expensive research and development.”
Read the full op-ed here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/06/18/trump-administration-intellectual-property-has-champion/