US Chamber Research Articles

Emerging Dimensions Of Copyright Laws: Legal Implications And Futuristic Approach

Intellectual property pertains to the composition of the human intellect. And, the intellectual property right is basically an entitlement of jus in re propria over intangible things. In other words, it is a right over the skills, ideas and intellect of a person. It is fictional in nature and quite different from formal properties. It encompasses copyright, trademarks, service marks, geographical indications, patents, utility models, plant varieties, industrial designs, trade secrets and layout designs, among others. IPR have garnered significance in contemporary times. It has gained importance throughout the whole Nations in recent times. Now, it is no more a subject of law but also a subject of general or public interest. The purpose of enacting laws related to foster the advancement of science, technology, arts, literature and another creative works, while encouraging and rewarding creativity. India is widely recognized for its intellectual progress in fields such as software engineering, missile technology, and space missions, including lunar and interplanetary explorations. Despite these achievements, India lags significantly in engendering intellectual property rights (IPR) fortunes including registered patents, industrial designs, and trademarks. According to a recent report by the US Chamber of Commerce, India positioned 29th out of 30 countries in the global IP survey. This paper is an attempt to highlight the emerging dimensions of copyright laws with special reference to the legal implications and futuristic approach. This concerning scenario highlights the urgent need for the policymakers to strengthen India's IP infrastructure and policies because lack of IPR awareness and protection can lead to the demise of inventions, increased risk of infringement, and economic losses.

The Industrialists: How the National Association of Manufacturers Shaped American Capitalism

The Industrialists: How the National Association of Manufacturers Shaped American Capitalism

Legal institutions, perceptions and entrepreneurship: an empirical investigation

This study assesses how perceptions about the quality of legal institutions affect entrepreneurial activity across US states. We employ survey data from the US Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform regarding both the overall perceived institutional quality within a state and a multitude of subcategories. With a panel data set covering 2002–08, we find that along with overall legal quality, entrepreneurial activity across states is positively correlated with better perceptions about punitive damages, summary judgment, rules of discovery and admission of scientific and technical evidence at trial. Interestingly, interacting these variables with economic freedom typically generates non-results, though this is not the case when considering only opportunity entrepreneurship. Implications are discussed.

Aspirations and intellectual property in the worldwide entrepreneurship ecosystem

Entrepreneurship and intellectual property ecosystems are a systematic and multifaceted phenomenon. The analysis of these ecosystems is essential to gain an understanding of how they might be related, especially at the country level. Our investigation has identified a lack of studies that empirically assess the possible relationship between these two ecosystems. We aim to evaluate the linkage between entrepreneurship and the intellectual property ecosystems. The aspirations sub-index of the Global Entrepreneurship Index and the US Chamber International IP Index are used as a proxy for the entrepreneurial and intellectual property ecosystem, respectively. We estimate a panel data model and use a quantile regression model with fixed effects to test the hypothesis that the intellectual property ecosystem affects aspirations in the global entrepreneurship ecosystem. This study analyses these ecosystems from a different perspective, and the results are potentially important for policymakers who seek to improve entrepreneurship and intellectual property.

The US chamber and chambers of commerce respond to Black Lives Matter: Cheap talk, progressive neoliberalism, or transformative change?

AbstractThis article examines the responses of the US Chamber of Commerce and state- and local-level chambers of commerce to Black Lives Matter (BLM). The US Chamber of Commerce's Equality of Opportunity Initiative stresses the business case for racial equity and the economic benefits that can be attained by overcoming race-related inequalities. Many chambers are adopting racially progressive positions, often at some cost to themselves. This article contributes a typology of stances and actions and draws on interviews with American business leaders to characterize American business organization responses to BLM. There is some movement beyond a progressive neoliberal vision of nondiscrimination to acknowledge that it is necessary to “level the playing field.” And the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives of state- and regional-level chambers suggest that they are making genuine and, in some cases, bold and meaningful attempts to advance the cause of racial equity. The evidence suggests that popular mobilization and social pressure following George Floyd's brutal murder played a critical role in enabling this progress. However, the parallels and similarities between current chamber and business DEI efforts and business stances in the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s raise the question: Can current efforts succeed where previous efforts have failed?

Intelligent Links: AI-Supported Connections between Employers and Colleges

When modernization and other changes demand workforce reskilling, employers often turn to local colleges for training programs. Doing so can be a frustrating experience. HR and talent professionals have difficulty identifying and communicating requirements, especially for new jobs and roles, while college continuing education (CE) and professional development offices have difficulty understanding and responding to company needs. This article describes an NSF Convergence Accelerator project called SkillSync™ in which multiple forms of AI are used to address this specific problem and provide national efforts (e.g., the US Chamber of Commerce Talent Pipeline Management initiative) with skills data and skills alignment services. Skillsync uses variations on the Siamese Multi-depth Transformer-based Hierarchical Encoder (SMITH) and other natural language understanding methods to map job descriptions and course information to skills taxonomies, uses machine-learned models to align skills needs with learning outcomes and training, and incorporates an intelligent coach based on Georgia Tech's Jill Watson “virtual teaching assistant” to answer questions about Skillsync's vocabulary, functionality, and process. This article describes these AI methods, how these methods are used in Skillsync, and the challenges involved.

Intelligent links: AI‐supported connections between employers and colleges

AbstractWhen modernization and other changes demand workforce reskilling, employers often turn to local colleges for training programs. Doing so can be a frustrating experience. HR and talent professionals have difficulty identifying and communicating requirements, especially for new jobs and roles, while college continuing education (CE) and professional development offices have difficulty understanding and responding to company needs. This article describes an NSF Convergence Accelerator project called SkillSync™ in which multiple forms of AI are used to address this specific problem and provide national efforts (e.g., the US Chamber of Commerce Talent Pipeline Management initiative) with skills data and skills alignment services. Skillsync uses variations on the Siamese Multi‐depth Transformer‐based Hierarchical Encoder (SMITH) and other natural language understanding methods to map job descriptions and course information to skills taxonomies, uses machine‐learned models to align skills needs with learning outcomes and training, and incorporates an intelligent coach based on Georgia Tech's Jill Watson “virtual teaching assistant” to answer questions about Skillsync's vocabulary, functionality, and process. This article describes these AI methods, how these methods are used in Skillsync, and the challenges involved.

Entrepreneurship, intellectual property and innovation ecosystems

This research aims to determine the relationship between entrepreneurship, intellectual property and innovation ecosystems at a global level. To assess the structural relationships between ecosystems, the unconditional quantile regressions using annual country data are estimated from two perspectives, namely: pooled data and data with fixed effects and time control. The Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI), the US Chamber International IP Index (IPI) and the Global Innovation Index (GII) are used as a proxy for the entrepreneurship, intellectual property and innovation ecosystem, respectively. The results indicate that the entrepreneurship and intellectual property ecosystems has a causal relationship with the global innovation ecosystem. However, when control of individual and fixed time effects is included, the relationship between ecosystems is confirmed in just a few quantiles. The sterile results require efforts from public, private and other agents to improve the performance of ecosystems, especially to increase the generation of innovative assets. This study looks at ecosystems from a different perspective, and the results are relevant to policymakers looking to improve the ecosystems of entrepreneurship, intellectual property and innovation. The originality of this article lies in bringing together issues that are generally dealt with in theoretical and empirical literature in separate domains. The study of the relationship between ecosystems from global indexes remains a little explored field, despite the various alternative approaches already investigated.

Harvey Alter

ACS NEWS Harvey Alter ShareShare onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail C&EN, 2020, 98 (42), p 36November 2, 2020Cite this:C&EN 98, 42, 36AbstractHarvey Alter, 87, died June 27 in Frederick, Maryland. “Harvey had an eclectic career. Beginning as a bench chemist, he proceeded to R&D management, to tech transfer in the resource-recovery field, and then on to environmental and science policy. For 15 years, he represented various industry groups before the United Nations Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. He taught at Frederick Community College pro bono for their Institute for Learning in Retirement. He was also an adjunct professor at American University and the University of Maryland University College for about 20 years. Harvey joined ACS in 1951 and served as president of the Chemical Society of Washington in 1972.”—Family of Harvey Alter Most recent title: Manager of environmental and natural resource public policy issues, US Chamber of Commerce Education: BS, chemistry, Queens College, 1952; PhD, physical chemistry, University of Cincinnati, 1957 Survivors:View: PDF | Full Text HTML

Keeping the Golden Door Ajar: The Business Case for Mexican Labour Migration to the United States in the 1920s

This article highlights the role that US Chamber of Commerce lobbyists and border politicians played in limiting restrictions on Mexican labour migration to the United States in the 1920s. Together, they successfully resisted calls for stricter statutory limitations on the admission of Mexican migrants by emphasizing their economic and civic contributions.

New NLRB Expected to Reject the Prolabor Bias of the Previous Administration

Recently, the US Chamber of Commerce published its list of prolabor rulings by the Obama National Labor Relations Board that it believes are ripe for overturning by the Board appointed by President Trump. “As the Obama Board's controversial decisions resurface in new cases, it is hoped the new Board will modify or reverse recent precedents,” said the chamber's brief on this topic. Here are the chamber's prime candidates for reversal.

Thailand transportation infrastructure performance and the economics

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the performance of transportation infrastructure of Thailand. A set of performance indicators of Thailand’s transportation infrastructure is proposed and gathered. The relationship between existing transportation infrastructure performance and Thailand’s economy is investigated. Design/methodology/approach The framework for determining Transportation Infrastructure Performance Index (TPI), proposed by the US Chamber of Commerce, is adapted for assessing the efficiency of Thailand’s transportation infrastructure. The analytical hierarchy process is employed in the process of constructing Thailand TPI. The relationship between TPI and Thailand’s economic growth is examined using multiple regression analysis. Findings The performance of Thailand’s transportation infrastructure had been continuously increased from 19.69 in 2005 to 61.52 in 2010. Great emphasis on improvement of the transportation infrastructure system should be placed as an increase in one unit of TPI results in the improvement by Baht449.420 of Thailand’s GDP per capita. Research limitations/implications The most critical issue arisen in the data collection process is the unavailability of data for some indicators in the TPI framework. Consequently, some indicators that contain insufficient data were excluded. Practical implications The proposed set of indicators is practical and instrumental in assessing the transportation infrastructure performance of Thailand, and investigating its relationship with the economy. Originality/value This research proposes a framework for quantifying the performance of transportation infrastructure, and develops the first national composite index to account for the overall performance.

Fascism-Lite in America (or the Social Ideal of Donald Trump)

What explains the election for the 45th president? There has been grave concern, raised since Citizens United v. FEC, that corporate money is corrupting democracy. Many commentators have even been analyzing Donald Trump’s candidacy as ‘fascist’. This article suggests the true cause of current developments is Buckley v. Valeo, in 1976. An extraordinary memorandum of Lewis Powell for the US Chamber of Commerce in 1971 urged that ‘[b]usiness interests’ should ‘press vigorously in all political arenas for support’. Richard Nixon then appointed Powell to the Supreme Court. A few years after in Buckley, over powerful dissent, a majority held candidates may spend unlimited funds on their own political campaign. Buckley v. Valeo was the ‘Trump for President’ decision. The 2016 election cannot be separated from the social ideal pursued by a majority of the Supreme Court since 1976. No modern judiciary had engaged in a more sustained assault on democracy and human rights. Properly understood, ‘fascism’ is a contrasting, hybrid political ideology. It mixes liberalism’s dislike of state intervention, social conservatism’s embrace of welfare provision for insiders (not ‘outsiders’), and collectivism’s view that associations are key actors in a class conflict. Although it is out of control, Trump’s candidacy is closely linked to neo-conservative politics. It is too hostile to insider welfare to be called ‘fascist’. Its political ideology is weaker. If we had to give it a name, the social ideal of Donald Trump is ‘fascism-lite’.

‘Crony Capitalism’ And The ACA

‘Crony Capitalism’ And The ACA

Report on the Russians: The Controversy Surrounding William Lindsay White's 1945 Account of Russia

In 1944, William Lindsay White accompanied the president of the US Chamber of Commerce to the Soviet Union. White's account of the trip, Report on the Russians, detailed the Katyn Forest Massacres, a raid on an American air base at Poltava, slave labor, and the Russian retreat from Moscow. The book stayed on the bestseller lists from March to September. However, it attracted bitter criticism from such diverse groups as the State Department, the National Council of Soviet–American Friendship, and well-known foreign correspondents. This article examines the interrelated issues of media objectivity, the role of the reporter during wartime, and the desire of reporters to be considered credible by their own government and by intellectuals considered fashionable at a given time.

Do the Justices Vote Like Policy Makers? Evidence from Scaling the Supreme Court with Interest Groups

AbstractResearch in judicial politics often assumes that Supreme Court justices vote on the basis of one-dimensional policy preferences. This article challenges this assumption using multidimensional scaling in two dimensions to compare the justices’ votes with positions taken by interest groups in Supreme Court cases. Focusing on two active groups, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the US Chamber of Commerce, the article demonstrates that the voting alignments of the justices deviate substantially from the policy dimensions identified by the interest groups. Although the scaling approach cannot determine whether the divergence is due to countervailing policy influences or disagreements about legal methodology, a qualitative examination of the cases suggests some of both. These findings cast doubt on the notion that the Court operates in a one-dimensional policy space and suggest the need for more nuanced models of judicial motivation.

Disclosure of Payments under the US Dodd-Frank Act: the ‘Resource Extraction Rule’

Tucked into the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act are several provisions having nothing to do with financial regulation. One of these ‘miscellaneous’ provisions required the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to implement rules requiring publicly traded resource extractive industry companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments. In August 2012, the SEC adopted final rules to achieve that purpose. In October 2012, the US Chamber of Commerce, as part of a coalition of business and other interests, filed suit to block the implementation of the rules. This article explains the contents of the resource extraction rule and the legal challenge levied against it.

Old Wine, Old Bottles

We have just finished a marathon election season, almost two years in the making, and by all accounts billions of dollars spent (almost $3b by the candidates, altogether about $6b by all the various campaigns and PACs formed to promote one candidate or another), to arrive at the same place. We might be excused if we glance at a British system that holds its elections in 3 weeks and bans television advertising – after all, we are hard pressed to see how that results in very different outcomes in governing styles and political philosophies. Little has changed in the US political landscape: stubborn right-wing Republicans, wary of Tea Party primary challenges, retain control over the US House of Representatives, while Democrats and their uneasy neoliberalism remain entrenched in the US Senate. President Obama was re-elected and, depending on whose tea leaves one consults (certainly not the Tea Party’s), it was a resounding victory for a continuation of his policies, or a narrow victory by a President with a less than stellar record in office over an elitist and even more unappealing opponent. After all, fewer than half the eligible voters chimed in by voting, so a case can be made that the electorate was not enthusiastic about its choices. There are noises about cabinet position changes, but this happens routinely as either government service burns out office holders, or those politically aspiring to higher office feel it is time to pull back from public service and begin to build their own infrastructure to run for local, State or Federal office. Some even speculate that now, with no more elections to run, President Obama can become the progressive champion everyone expected with his victory in 2008 (Newby, 2010 and Gimenez, 2010 debate the nature and reasonableness of those expectations). True, there are fewer if any political costs in taking a harder position and not accommodating in order to appear reasonable. But to see a change, we would have to assume that in this administration new ideas and better principled positions are going to emerge. Sadly, there are reasons to be cautious – cautiously pessimistic because we should not expect anything new as the past can reveal core principles, and perhaps cautiously optimistic because this time, unlike 2009, campaign rhetoric might really take shape as a political reality. Let us consider the political and economic landscape. The US Chamber of Commerce, which worked hard to elect business friendly Republicans, continues its efforts to promote a business friendly environment and the Wall Street Journal has already issued warnings that President Obama should not consider this re-election a mandate to reject Republican values – values that failed to carry the day. What is strange about this is that at every turn in his first term Obama seemed to accommodate business and Wall Street – after campaigning on change and making the argument that you cannot expect those who created the problem to correct the system, his main financial appointments came out of that same system being hired from Goldman Sachs and promoted from within a Federal Reserve in New York City that was at best asleep while Wall Street piled up historic profits and almost wrecked the economy (to sack: pillage and destroy, as in Goldman Sachs). 471264 CRS39110.1177/0896920512471264Critical SociologyEditorial 2012

American business interests meet air pollution transport science: understanding the US response to trans-Pacific air pollution

Since the discovery of air pollution traveling from China to the US during the late 1990s, trans-Pacific air pollution (consisting of a range of non-CO2 greenhouse gases) has been an emerging global environmental issue. But how has it been addressed, how does it relate to the existing multilateral air pollution regime, and who are the interested parties? This article addresses these questions by examining the evolution of the science of trans-Pacific air pollution, discussing the way in which this science has been made policy-relevant by researchers working under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, and by illustrating how American economic interests concerned with the effects of trans-Pacific air pollution on American land values and industry have used this scientific knowledge to lobby the US government for regulatory relief. Trans-Pacific air pollution arguably causes regions of the US to violate National Ambient Air Quality Standards, resulting in unwanted federal involvement in local decision-making and tighter regulatory standards, which impedes local economic development and lowers property values. At the same time, laxer environmental standards in China result in increased pollution and lower American industrial competitiveness. The result has been that the US Chamber of Commerce and the Alliance for American Manufacturing have begun to develop policy alternatives.

Elections for sale?

The case overruled earlier Supreme Court decisions stating that corporations may not use general treasury funds to pay for political advertisements and electioneering. The 5–4 ruling effectively frees corporations, labor unions, and advocacy groups to use general funds to buy advertisements that explicitly try to sway voters. The majority opined that restrictions on for-profit and non-profit spending violated the Constitution's free-speech guarantee. Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the majority, stated: “Corporations and other associations, like individuals, contribute to the ‘discussion, debate, and the dissemination of information and ideas’ that the First Amendment seeks to foster”. Justice John Paul Stevens' dissent raised several interesting issues, including: “Under the majority's view, I suppose it may be a First Amendment problem that corporations are not permitted to vote, given that voting is, among other things, a form of speech”. Prior precedent had ruled that one individual may spend as much money as he/she wishes to produce and broadcast his/her personal political advertisements, but whenever two or more people join to speak out about a candidate in this way, they must register as a “political action committee”, a complex administrative and reporting requirement that carries the threat of fines and even imprisonment if not followed to the letter, and which limits single contributions to $5000. The Citizens United case did not rule on the outright ban that has been in effect for corporations (since 1907) and for labor unions (since 1947) on donations that they might want to make directly to a federal candidate or a candidate's campaign organization. President Obama and his congressional allies have vowed to respond with legislation. The introduction of a constitutional amendment to reverse the decision – even though it will be a tough sell – is in the works. Pundits have begun to chatter about public financing of campaigns, to help level the playing field. The decision likely cuts both ways for environmental advocacy; on the one hand, such groups are no longer limited to political action committees and can spend money on publicly disseminated election communications. Conversely, smaller eco-advocacy groups could be easily outspent by larger, anti-environmental corporations and special-interest groups. Corporations must tread carefully on environmental issues. Last fall, a number of “green” companies resigned from the US Chamber of Commerce, because that organization opposed EPA's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases. Companies such as Nike and Apple heard from their customers and realized that the Chamber's activities conflicted with their goals. The Court's decision also pertains to non-profit advocacy groups, such as the Sierra Club, which was fined $28 000 in 2006 for distributing pamphlets that compared the environmental views of the presidential and senatorial candidates. Unfettered debate is one thing; spending enormous sums of money to influence an election may be quite another. Ultimately, the 2009 Supreme Court opinion in Summers vs Earth Island Institute may be more important to environmental groups or “sympathetic” individuals; in that case, the Court ruled that such groups can challenge regulations in court only if they can show that they will be directly harmed (a “concrete, particularized injury”) by specific actions resulting from the regulations. The ramifications of Citizens United will be many, and we can count on being swamped with even more media-induced cacophony from both ends of the political spectrum. I personally am more thankful than ever for my TV's digital video recorder.