    [United States Statutes at Large, Volume 132, 115th Congress, 2nd Session]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    Proclamation 9729 of April 26, 2018

    World Intellectual Property Day, 2018

    By the President of the United States of America

    A Proclamation

    On World Intellectual Property Day, we not only celebrate invention and
    innovation, but also we recognize how integral intellectual property
    rights are to our Nation's economic competitiveness. Intellectual
    property rights support the arts, sciences, and technology. They also
    create the framework for a competitive market that leads to higher wages
    and more jobs for everyone. The United States is committed to protecting
    the intellectual property rights of our companies and ensuring a level
    playing field in the world economy for our Nation's creators, inventors,
    and entrepreneurs.

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    Our country will no longer turn a blind eye to the theft of American
    jobs, wealth, and intellectual property through the unfair and
    unscrupulous economic practices of some foreign actors. These practices
    are harmful not only to our Nation's businesses and workers but to our
    national security as well. Intellectual property theft is estimated to
    cost our economy as much as $600 billion a year. To protect our economic
    and national security, I have directed Federal agencies to aggressively
    respond to the theft of American intellectual property. In combatting
    this intellectual property theft, and in enforcing fair and reciprocal
    trade policy, we will protect American jobs and promote global
    innovation.
    While we continue to demand the protection of intellectual property
    rights abroad, my Administration will also take steps to strengthen our
    patent system here at home. A system that increases the reliability and
    enforceability of patents will encourage even more investment in
    creative and innovative industries, leading to job and wealth creation
    for all Americans. When the United States advances pro-growth policies
    of this form, we set an example of protecting economic competitiveness,
    promoting new engines of growth, and prioritizing the expansion of
    innovative and creative capacities overall.
    This year's World Intellectual Property Day is dedicated to celebrating
    all of the industrious and brilliant women who have changed, and who
    continue to change, the world with their inventions, innovations, and
    other creative contributions to society. Our Nation's economic strength
    and prosperity would not be so without the over 75 million women in our
    country's workforce, whose ingenuity, initiative, and hard work have
    helped foster the growth and progress of America's economy since our
    formation. Over the past decade, the number of women-owned firms has
    grown five times faster than the national average for all firms.
    American women are assuming leading roles in health, business and
    finance, the arts, and the STEM fields. We must protect the intellectual
    property rights of these women creators, inventors, and entrepreneurs in
    order to promote further innovation for years to come.
    A new era of American exceptionalism is dawning, in the form of
    sustained intellectual property rights and continued American
    entrepreneurship. The drive for excellence, advancement, and innovation
    in the United States has brought forth significant discoveries,
    developed life-saving research, and improved the quality of life for
    millions of Americans. On this World Intellectual Property Day, we
    celebrate the creative spirit and contributions of American men and
    women, and we acknowledge the necessity of maintaining intellectual
    property rights for all those enterprising individuals who dare to
    invent or create something new for the betterment of all people.
    NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of
    America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
    the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 26, 2018, as
    World Intellectual Property Day. I encourage Americans to observe this
    day with events and educational programs that celebrate the benefits of
    intellectual property to our economy and our country.
    IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of
    April, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and

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    of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
    forty-second.
    DONALD J. TRUMP