International Trade

Small and start-up businesses are principal sources of innovation and are vital to U.S. economic growth. Statistics show that small business created more than 5.5 million new jobs in the United States during the 1990s. In the current global economy, protecting innovations in the United States and abroad is an important component of small businesses' ability to develop overseas markets. The cost of obtaining, maintaining, and enforcing foreign patents is the most significant foreign patent impediment that small businesses encounter. GAO found that obtaining patents abroad is costly for several reasons: (1) companies typically seek patents in several other countries simultaneously and incur costs in each location, (2) some foreign patent office fees are substantially higher than corresponding U.S. Patent and Trademark Office fees, and (3) foreign patent laws and requirements are complex and difficult to understand causing companies to incur substantial U.S. and foreign legal fees. The businesses GAO surveyed said that the impediments they encounter have discouraged or prevented them from obtaining as much foreign patent protection as they would like. Large businesses are better equipped to deal with foreign patent impediments because they have more financial resources and foreign patent expertise and are better able to enforce their patents abroad. The small businesses and patent attorneys thought that certain federal actions could help small businesses overcome the impediments they face in seeking foreign patent protection.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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