Giachino (00:05.0050 - 00:27.0799)
Welcome to IP Protection Matters. I'm your host, Renee Giachino. Today, we're joined by Jaci McDole, the Senior Director, Copyright and Creativity at the Global Innovation Policy Center of the US Chamber of Commerce. Among other things, we're going to be talking today about the big impact of IP on small businesses. Jaci, welcome to the show. It's a pleasure to have you join me.
McDole (00:27.0809 - 00:30.0559)
Thank you so very much for inviting me to speak with you today.
Giachino (00:30.0969 - 00:37.0119)
Before we dive into some of these topics that relate to IP, tell us what's going on at GIPC.
McDole (00:37.0529 - 01:12.0355)
Well, as you heard when you spoke with my colleague Kelly Anderson recently, GIPC is the intellectual property division of the Chamber of Commerce. We are the world's largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million enterprises of all sizes and sectors. So that means that we represent small to large businesses of all different sorts. And so it is my honor to work with our creative community, especially, to more effectively advance IP protection both domestically and abroad.
Giachino (01:12.0785 - 01:29.0250)
The advancement of IP protection begins, I think you'll agree because you spearhead this effort, with education. Tell us about your mission as an educator when we talk about IP protection.
McDole (01:29.0260 - 02:31.0259)
For me, education never ends. It is one of the most important things, whether that is educating policymakers, educating creators or educating consumers. There are so many different aspects to this, and it affects every part of our lives. Whether we realize it or not, it affects every industry. There is a lot that people don't understand about the basics. So we are making sure that people are aware of the harms that could come from counterfeits and going to digital piracy sites and things like that, as well as the positives that come from intellectual property - the empowerment, the inclusivity and the opportunity to build generational wealth. All of these things are connected to intellectual property in some way. Our understanding of what we're capable of and what is possible starts with education.
Giachino (02:31.0830 - 03:00.0750)
I love it. It’s almost as if you saw my list of questions. I watched your introduction that you did for last year's IP Day: IP and Women in Technology and I loved how you set it up by talking about how IP rights impact our lives every day. One of the examples that you gave really had me take a step back because I had never really thought about recipes.
McDole (03:01.0559 - 03:37.0690)
Absolutely. That actually is one of the things that people don't think about. There's so much creativity that goes into the kitchen. Your grandmother's recipe that is handed down for generations and things like that. If you start a restaurant and you end up using that recipe, then you have a right to be able to protect it so that somebody else doesn't come along and undercut you. That usually falls under trade secret law more than copyright, but it is still a very important part of intellectual property protection.
Giachino (03:37.0919 - 04:13.0615)
So let's roll forward to this year's IP day. You authored a piece celebrating the role of IP in academia, innovation and the creative community. You set out five different case studies highlighting innovators and creators. I'd like to chat very briefly about several or all of those. I'd like to start if we can with IP and the American dream. You wrote about a gentleman named Michael Maponga. Can you briefly share his story with us to give us that context of IP and the American dream?
McDole (04:13.0835 - 05:26.0774)
Absolutely. That was a fantastic opportunity for me. I actually met Michael when he was giving a presentation and connected with him and was like, I have to tell your story. He came from Africa. When he came over to the US, he found that he was struggling to fit in. His identity was a little mixed and a little misunderstood because he didn't have his former culture to rely on here in the States. And so he developed an organization called Maponga Studios and AfroLand TV, which brings Pan-African stories from all around the world, not just Africa and not just the US, and connects people through these creative efforts.
I think that is one of the most important things about the creative community - how we connect through these stories and these opportunities to share who we are and what matters to us. To laugh. To cry. To just connect on a human level. I think that was one of the most compelling parts of Michael's story.
Giachino (05:27.0075 - 05:51.0899)
When people think of IP protection, maybe they first think of patents and things like that. They may think of big corporations first and not really even think about the impact of IP on small businesses. But what you're talking about takes it even one step further in demonstrating how IP can empower inclusivity.
McDole (05:51.0910 - 06:58.0540)
Absolutely. One of my favorite things about doing the projects that we did for World IP Day this year is getting to tell those stories about inclusivity, empowerment and how these creators are building generational wealth. From their mouths they say it is absolutely critical to control intellectual property, because this gives the underserved an opportunity to create valuable assets and generational wealth.
They talked about how intellectual property is vital for them to be able to do what they do. And that is a part of the education point that that is critical in a lot of ways. We don't understand intellectual property and its role in that sense. It is absolutely vital for us to realize that without intellectual property there is no business, whether that's small or big. So we have to have that foundation,
Giachino (06:58.0730 - 07:05.0950)
What about the impact that IP has had and is continuing to have on the disabled community?
McDole (07:06.0179 - 08:36.0671)
I had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Helen Brown. Her story is absolutely incredible on so many levels. We could do an entire podcast and a half on just her. She has used intellectual property to help the disabled community. She has a company called Mobility Unlimited Technology Worldwide. And a product called Wheeldestrian where they are working in a lot of different communities to make it easier for pedestrians and the disabled to get around and not be injured.
She talked about how she witnessed a person in a wheelchair going through a crosswalk who end up getting struck by a vehicle. That is what set her off on this project. The most wonderful thing about her efforts is that she's not only innovating for the disabled community. She is part of that community and she is working with that community in order to find solutions that are meaningful across the board for them. It's not just designing for a community. It's designing with this community and including them in everything that they're doing.
Giachino (08:37.0020 - 09:35.0684)
In my own backyard... an interesting story that I'd love to see showcased is the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition that is here in Florida in my backyard. They have been working on an exoskeleton that is helping to change the lives of paraplegics. I'm a firm believer that this would not be happening if it weren't for relationships that exist, for example, between IP and academics. If there wasn't a role for those investors who see the potential long-term gain.
We know that millions if not billions are sometimes poured into starting at the creative front and getting it to market. Sometimes that doesn't always work, but they're willing to make that investment at least heretofore because of our strong IP laws.
Unfortunately, we're seeing some changes. Is that right?
McDole (09:36.0085 - 10:41.0948)
That's absolutely right. Even with intellectual property protections, return on investment isn't guaranteed. But without intellectual property protections, it's nearly impossible. There are certain measures that are being set forth right now, both domestically and around the world, that are fighting to reduce intellectual property protections in a way that essentially would make it more difficult, especially for the small businesses and the startups that are doing amazing things like what you talked about with the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.
They're doing incredible things, but they can't always get the upfront risk that they need to invest with a long-term goal, because there are so many shortsighted views that think intellectual property protections are actually harming our access to these innovations. It's making it more difficult. Well really no, you're taking away from the opportunity for these breakthrough innovations to even be a possibility.
Giachino (10:41.0958 - 10:55.0760)
Jaci, what do you see as the keys to the US retaining its life sciences innovation leadership. Do we still hold that leadership today? I think it's certainly decreasing or regressing.
McDole (10:56.0130 - 11:51.0340)
I think it's a combination. We're kind of in a little bit of a dance. Part of that is that the whole world is trying to figure out what's going on with certain innovations. For example, AI. There's so many nuances and so many aspects of it that we're trying to wrap our heads around. The technology is just moving so quickly that it's a challenge to figure out how to keep up with it, much less get ahead of it.
In terms of what we can do, honestly, robust intellectual property protection and support for our small and medium enterprises are a couple of the biggest things. As you mentioned earlier, education is absolutely key for not only our policymakers, but for our innovators and creators to truly understand the benefits, opportunities and what is there before them.
Giachino (11:51.0690 - 12:12.0119)
We talk about education, getting ahead and looking ahead. In the piece that you authored for IP Day this year, you also wrote about looking to the future and future generations and the impact of IP with STEAM students. Can you talk about that?
McDole (12:12.0500 - 13:45.0380)
Absolutely. That is one thing that is very near and dear to my heart. I may be in policy at the moment, but I am always an educator in the background. A lot of times our science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (we need to make sure it's STEAM and not just STEM) students will get in and they'll come up with these amazing ideas, but then they have no idea what to do with them. And so educating our students early, getting them started and giving them a basic understanding of intellectual property will help us as we move forward.
In 2023, during the World IP Day event we did then, I had the honor of speaking with a young lady who started her organization while she was still a student at Stanford. It was one of her projects for a class and it spun off into a startup. So she was still learning as she was going and trying to go through the steps of the startup. If we start early and we include intellectual property in our classes across the board for science, tech, engineering, arts, mathematics, everything, business, then we'll have that basic understanding and we'll have that foundation for the future. It will lead to greater innovation, broader creativity and a lot of possibility and opportunity for the future.
Giachino (13:45.0820 - 14:21.0934)
Our guest has been Jaci McDole, Senior Director, Copyright and Creativity at the Global Innovation Policy Center - part of the US Chamber of Commerce. Jaci, thank you so much for sharing with us your thoughts on why IP protection matters, sharing some of the biggest threats to IP protection today and even better yet sharing with us some of the great stories of the big impact that IP has on small businesses, on different communities and helping folks reach that American dream. I want to leave the mic open for some parting thoughts. Anything else you'd like to share with us?
McDole (14:22.0325 - 14:41.0534)
Thank you very much for having me and for giving us the opportunity to have this discussion about the importance of including intellectual property in education. It is something that definitely needs to happen for consumers, for creators, for innovators and policymakers all around the world. Thank you very much.
Giachino (14:41.0544 - 14:45.0750)
Thank you and we appreciate your time. You have a wonderful afternoon. Thank you.