Economic resilience & recovery: for whom?
On November 25th, 2020, the European Commission published a new Action Plan on Intellectual Property to promote a more coherent EU-wide approach and ensure global level playing field.
Previously European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) has carried out various EU-wide studies on the contribution of intellectual property (IP) rights to the EU economy. This research aimed at providing evidence to support policymakers and form a basis for raising awareness among Europe’s citizens about the value of intellectual property.
According to their findings:
Intangible assets such as R&D, inventions, artistic and cultural creations, brands, software, know-how, business processes and data are the cornerstones of today’s knowledge economy.
Over the last two decades, the volume of annual investments in ‘intellectual property assets’ increased by 87% in the EU, while the volume of tangible (non-residential) investments increased by only 30%.
Industries that make intensive use of IP play an essential role in the EU economy and offer good and sustainable jobs to the society. IPR-intensive industries currently account for almost 45% of Europe’s GDP and directly contribute to the creation of almost 30% of all jobs.
Great part of these studies is centred on the creative and innovative industry side, and it is indeed the case of the New EU Industrial Strategy adopted last March that is formally recognised as the propeller of the EU IP policy. Thus, the Action Plan is centred on five key endeavours: to improve the protection of IP; to boost the uptake of IP by SMEs; to facilitate the sharing of IP in order to increase the technological uptake in the industry; to fight counterfeiting and improve the enforcement of IP rights; and to promote a global level playing field.
In general, the EU IP Action Plan should help all the IP and innovation ecosystem actors ‘to make the most of their inventions and creations and ensure they can benefit our economy and society’. The coronavirus crisis made this even more pertinent.
However, only the companies are under the radar of the EU IP Action Plan. Natural or individual persons are not considered, which is especially relevant in the context of Future of Work and valuable contributions which are made by innumerable netizens nourishing collective intelligence.
The one stop shop implies that the economic participation of person is eliminated later, at the stage of IP exploitation, i. e. deregulation advances buy-out options, which promotes the interests of big corporations and production companies. Consequently, online content repayment for netizens, creators and artists meagers.
EU IP Action Plan will be the basis for subsequent legislative and non-legislative initiatives at the EU and Member States level. Together with European Green Deal and Digital Agenda, the IP Action plan is deemed to reinforce the EU recovery and resilience.
The official thorough information regarding the EU IP Action Plan adoption can be found here.
Authors:
Renata Kubus from CID-N.
César Casares from ConARTE (FIA Member).
Tania González Alvarado from UdG.
