This week Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker will meet their Indian counterparts for the first meeting of the U.S.-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue (S&CD).
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee have written Kerry and Pritzker asking for continued U.S. pressure on intellectual property issues: “In the area of intellectual property rights, we continue to be concerned by India’s inadequate system for the protection and enforcement of copyrights. Insufficient respect for and enforcement of patents, most notably relating to biopharmaceuticals, is also a perennial area of concern for U.S. rightholders. We hope that the S&CD will lead India to take steps to address these concerns and ensure adequate protection of intellectual property rights.” The full letter is available here.
Nonetheless, Politico’s Morning Trade quotes an Undersecretary of Commerce identifying four issues of concern for the meeting, and intellectual property is not among them: “collaborating with India on its “Smart Cities” initiative, which is aimed at spurring economic growth and urban development; making it easier to do business in India through tax, regulatory and legal reforms, including those relating to contract enforcement; harmonizing product standards; and sharing best practices.”
A recent Federal Trade Commission surveyed American business leaders that did business with India to find their top concerns, and intellectual property was actually quite low (Share of U.S. companies engaged in India that are substantially affected by … intellectual property and local content requirements: 8.2% (Table ES 1)). That report is available here, a quick earlier blog about it is here. For a deeper dive, check KEI’s videos of the hearings conducted by the ITC as part of its investigation, or read my hearing summaries: First panel | Second panel | Third panel.
