[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