Former Trump official defends intellectual property as economic equalizer amid AI copyright fight
A former Trump administration official argues that copyrights and patents help small innovators compete with large corporations, as publishers sue OpenAI over training data and the Justice Department backs the company's fair use position.
A former Trump administration official has argued that intellectual property protections are the « great equalizer » of the U.S. economy, warning that federal officials and lawmakers should not weaken the property rights that underpin American innovation as artificial intelligence companies face copyright lawsuits.
The argument comes as several major publications, including The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and USA Today, have sued OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. The newspapers allege that OpenAI used their articles to train its models in ways that violate copyright protections. OpenAI contends it does not need to license the articles because of the « fair use » doctrine, a legal principle that allows the use of copyrighted material without permission in limited circumstances. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a brief supporting OpenAI's broad interpretation of that doctrine.
The former official acknowledged that keeping American AI labs at the forefront of development is critical to economic and national security. Still, the official wrote, it is equally important that federal agencies and members of Congress avoid inadvertently undermining the property rights that support the economy. Copyrights, patents and other protections, the official argued, give authors, inventors and small companies an incentive to innovate and a way to compete against large corporations and wealthy elites who might otherwise take their ideas without compensation.
The official traced the concept to the Enlightenment, noting that the U.S. Constitution's Intellectual Property Clause empowers Congress « To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries. » The official described the clause as unusual for connecting a public objective with a private property right, granting creators a period of legally protected exclusivity to bring their work to market.
To illustrate the point, the official pointed to historical and modern examples. Elias Howe, the son of a Massachusetts farmer who worked at a textile mill and later as a machinist, received a U.S. patent in 1846 for a practical sewing machine, giving him enforceable ownership of his invention even as larger manufacturers entered the market. Thomas Edison, who sold newspapers and candy on trains before becoming a telegraph operator, received more than a thousand U.S. patents that helped him attract investment and commercialize technologies including recorded sound and electric lighting.
The official also cited J.K. Rowling, who wrote the early chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as a single mother in Edinburgh cafés. Because she owned the copyright, she was able to partner with a publisher and license the franchise for films, television, theme parks and Broadway. In another example, inventor Aaron Krause used his patents to secure investment from Lori Greiner on Shark Tank, a deal that helped turn Scrub Daddy into a business generating roughly $220 million annually, according to the official.
Intellectual property protections, the official added, also allow small firms to challenge far larger rivals. Acumed, a medical technology company that began as a family business with a single machinist in the late 1980s, developed and patented orthopedic devices, including a specialized nail for upper-arm and shoulder fractures. When a medical-device giant copied the technology despite warnings from its own lawyers about infringement, Acumed sued. A jury found willful infringement and a district court granted a permanent injunction barring further sales. The larger company appealed, and the Federal Circuit initially vacated the injunction, a development the official presented as an example of how well-resourced firms can pursue delay.
3
