US-EU Working Group on Jobs and Growth: BIO Submits Comments on IP

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) appreciates the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) query about BIO's views on how intellectual property should be treated in any future agreement arising from the U.S.- EU High Level Dialogue. Given that both the U.S. and European economies have made significant investments in biotechnology, BIO appreciates that the USTR is considering including issues related to biotechnology in any future U.S. EU Agreement.

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BIO believes that the US-EU dialogue should lead to substantive commitments on IP for two reasons: 1) it will help make clear that IP is central any state-of-the-art 21st century trade relationship; 2) as outlined below, there are substantive issues that need to be addressed. While these issues are not as fundamental as those that exist with some emerging economies, they are nonetheless important to the functioning of a modern, state-of-the-art IP regime. In addition, BIO is a strong proponent of patent law harmonization and to the extent possible, BIO urges that U.S. and EU harmonize their patent laws.