On November 11, 2020, Andrew Price and Will Nordwind were quoted in World Trademark Review on the likelihood that the Biden administration will maintain the White House’s approach to intellectual property rights protection and enforcement, both domestically and abroad.
Just days after the election, the Trump administration published the 58-page Joint Strategic Plan for Intellectual Property, which includes plans for the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to “continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute individuals and corporations that engage in the large-scale trafficking in counterfeit and pirated goods,” as well as the particular focus of the government on stopping counterfeiters from attempting to profit from the COVID-19 crisis.
Price does not expect a radical policy shift as far as China is concerned: “There is no reason to expect a change to the existing US-China Phase One Agreement, to the extent it addresses trademark and counterfeiting problems in China. This should be a non-partisan issue, especially since a coronavirus vaccine will be launched soon, putting extra pressure on the need to avoid pharmaceutical counterfeiting.” That said, he adds: “A Biden administration may favor a multilateral approach.”
More broadly, Price argues that issues such as bad-faith trademark applications are largely non-partisan. In addition, “the need to address trademark infringement on e-commerce platforms should be a non-partisan issue as well,” he says.
Nordwind also notes Biden’s status as a strict IP enforcer: “Part of Biden’s existing legacy is IP enforcement and we can expect a Biden administration to continue to empower the Office of the US Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator.”
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