Intellectual Property refers to, "creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce." - World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

On Aug. 7, 2019, Sintia Radu for U.S. News, wrote about IP theft and international business, "Intellectual property infringement, including patent violations, trademark counterfeiting, copyright piracy, and trade secret theft brings significant financial losses for both individuals and businesses and is a United States government concern. IP infringement can compromise the country's competitive advantage in innovation and creativity."

Total GDP is in trillions, however; the GDP change from the previous year is only in billions -- hundreds of billions add up across many industries.

The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol confirmed in their Intellectual Property Rights Brochure, IP rights are considered Priority Trade Issues (PTI) because they, "represent high-risk areas that can cause significant revenue loss, harm the U.S. economy, or threaten the health and safety of the American people." The brochure also mentioned that they enforce IP rights, "CBP engages in the interdiction of products that infringe on U.S. trademarks, copyrights, or exclusion orders issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). The enforcement of IPR supports public health and safety, promotes economic prosperity, and preserves domestic and international security."

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol's website for Intellectual Property Rights explains how IP violations affect Americans -- "Trade in counterfeit and pirated goods threatens America’s innovation economy, the competitiveness of our businesses, the livelihoods of U.S. workers, and, in some cases, national security and the health and safety of consumers." The website also said, "CBP Trade protects the intellectual property rights of American businesses, safeguarding them from unfair competition, and use for malicious intent while upholding American innovation and ingenuity." 

Americans have intelligence and experience

Generally speaking; U.S. has known how far to trust other countries/governments with IP.

The USTR 2019 Special 301 Report, for ensuring, "U.S. owners of IP have a full and fair opportunity to use and profit from their IP around the globe," lists China as first on Priority Watch List, page 3. In Executive Summary (page 6), "China’s placement on the Priority Watch List reflects the urgent need for fundamental structural changes to strengthen IP protection and enforcement, including as to trade secret theft, online piracy and counterfeiting...," and more. The music download site IP issue is believed to be a PTI of a much greater scale/volume than usual instances. 

This article follows an ongoing story -- for more context, read Ascendents.net News November 5th article: Artists Need Lost Revenue.

It is true that even in America and in many other countries, streaming services pay low rates, but they don't blatantly host a free MP3 download site. No signup is required for unlimited downloads -- this is branded and ad-free, it's different than a hacker website, U.S. companies are distributing directly to them. It would appear they unethically steal billions of music downloads and then underpay artists for streams by ~90%, bypassing the will of the American people -- they can't be trusted like honorable IP partners/governments -- such as Japan, and UK.

Because the United States is a free country, its citizens and businesses can survive creating intangible/intellectual property. For art/research/invention IP -- copyrights, patents, and trademarks allow freedom not protected in other parts of the world. Especially when doing international business, consider that while each and every industry/company/individual entity might not always get as government controlled -- in the future, they could be.

The U.S. Dept of Commerce 2018-2022 Strategic Plan, written on page 3, for Strategic Goal #1 - Accelerate American Leadership, "the United States leads the world in research, invention, and innovation. To strengthen our leadership, we are supporting the growth of commercial space activities, investing in foundational research, and protecting intellectual property (IP) to ensure creators can be rewarded for their inventions." The U.S. Department of Commerce plan's Strategic Objective 3.1 explains, "American businesses thrive when they compete internationally on a level playing field. We work to level the field by enforcing U.S. trade laws and ensuring that foreign governments comply with international agreements."

On November 11, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden who enters office in January, sent to Twitter this message (approaching 500-thousand likes) -- "When I’m speaking to foreign leaders, I’m telling them: America is going to be back. We’re going to be back in the game."

 Additional resources:

- Global Innovation Policy Center Dashboard
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Global Innovation Policy Center 2020 International IP Index