$80 Trillion and Growing: Lisa Jorgenson on Why IP Matters | IPWatchdog Unleashed

Last week on IPWatchdog Unleashed our conversation was with Judge John Holcomb of the United States Federal District Court for the Central District of California. Judge Holcomb was our keynote speaker on Tuesday, March 4 at IPWatchdog LIVE 2025. This week on IPWatchdog Unleashed we present another keynote speaker—Lisa Jorgenson. Jorgenson’s speech was given during lunch on Monday, March 3. You can listen to her entire speech by downloading the podcast here.

Lisa Jorgenson is Deputy Director General for Patents and Technology at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). And even before assuming the position as Deputy Director General of WIPO in 2021, she was very well known to the U.S. intellectual property community. Before moving to Geneva to join WIPO she was the Executive Director of the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA). And prior to the AIPLA she was Vice President of Intellectual Property and Licensing at STMicroelectronics. Jorgenson is a friend to everyone in the IP community, and we were honored to have her speak at IPWatchdog LIVE.

“We’re meeting here at a critical moment,” Jorgenson began her speech saying. “Across industries, innovators and creators and those who support them are navigating rapid and profound change. From technology to trade, geopolitics to global economics, the international landscape is more complex and unpredictable than at any time in recent memory.”

The keynote by Jorgenson focused primarily on two questions. First, what are the key trends driving global innovation today? Second, what do those key trends mean for the IP community and the innovators and creators? But before diving into those questions, she provided a report on progress being made relative to harmonization of IP laws and standards.

“For the first time, WIPO successfully concluded not one but two major international agreements in a single year,” Jorgenson told the IPWatchdog audience. “These landmark achievements, the Riyadh Design Law Treaty and the WIPO Treaty on IP Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge are significant for many reasons.” Jorgenson highlighted how the design treaty “reflects both the growing importance of design in innovation cycles and the enduring influence of the US IP leadership.” She explained these treaties “demonstrate a strong and growing appetite for clear and reliable IP frameworks and rules. This is a really an important point, especially as we think about the future of innovation, creativity and IP.”

Jorgenson also came armed with eye-popping facts and figures.

• “[G]lobal intangibles are valued at over $80 trillion, more than the world’s five largest economies combined, and a 13-fold increase since 1996. In the US, 90% of the S&P market value is in intangible assets.”
• “Global IP filings have nearly doubled over the past decade, growing from just under 11 million in 2013 to 20 million in 2023. That means that for every minute, around 40 IP applications are filed somewhere in the world.”
• “[P]atent filings to the USPTO increased by around 5% over the last decade, with trademarks and designs rising by 66%. Patents, trademarks and designs filed by US innovators worldwide also increased by 6%, 35% and 45% respectively.”
• “While it took 26 years to reach 1 million PCT applications, the jump from four to 5 million came in just four years.”
• “The soaring value of the world’s leading brands now worth over $13 trillion, with 45% of the value here in the United States.” Cross-border payments for the use of IP are now worth $1 trillion annually, with the US earning two and a half times what any other country makes from selling IP abroad. And this shift is only accelerating.”
• “[I]ntangible investment reached almost $7 trillion in 2023. The US is responsible for almost two-thirds of this total.”

Jorgenson also discussed how over the last 18 months WIPO has worked with 53 member states to strengthen patent examination. She also said over the past year WIPO has worked with 12 member states to provide legislative assistance for new IP enforcement provisions.

“I’ve yet to meet a policymaker or government official from any country who is not serious about leveraging digital services, clean tech, or creativity for their future growth,” Jorgenson said as she explained that this means the U.S. can expect continued global competition from emerging markets keen to strengthen their intellectual property systems. And while many understand that IP is a “strategic imperative”, “IP is still more mysterious and misunderstood than it should be.” And according to a WIPO survey, only 56% of respondents in the West believe IP beneficial to their economies, “while 76% of respondents in Asia Pacific and 70% in Africa viewed IP as beneficial to their economies,” Jorgenson explained.

“IP is seen less positively in the U.S. than in much of the developing world,” Jorgenson said. “Think of this as an $8 trillion question because that’s how much IP-intensive industries contribute to the U.S. economy every year, supporting tens of millions of jobs in the process. Yet a sizable gap remains between IP’s economic impact and its public perception.”

“An astonishing 12 million Americans now call themselves full-time content creators,” Jorgenson said. “Most of us have IP groundings in patents or other forms of industrial property, and while these will continue to dominate practice, we can’t afford to overlook areas like copyright, content, data, and software, which are growing in influence. Consider Japan. When we think of its economy, we tend to focus on robotics, consumer electronics, or other advanced technologies. But what’s surprising is that creative content, manga, anime, and others, now generates nearly as much overseas revenue as the semiconductor industry, around five trillion yen per year. The lesson is clear. Today’s innovation game is being played on more and more fronts, not just from an industrial context.”

To listen to the entire keynote speech given by Lisa Jorgenson, please visit IPWatchdog Unleashed on Buzzsprout, or download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts.

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