Biography of Bob Wright

At the upcoming FORTUNE Innovation Forum in New York City, Bob Wright, the Vice Chairman of GE and the Chairman and CEO of NBC Universal, will be participating on a panel discussion called "Protecting Intellectual Property." The panel will take a closer look at the role that intellectual property protection plays in the overall innovation process. As a foreshadowing of his views on IP piracy and innovation, Bob Wright wrote an op-piece in last week's Wall Street Journal called Stop IP Theft (link via the United States Council for International Business).

In the op-ed piece, Wright explains that intellectual property theft is an issue for business leaders in any industry, not just the music or movie businesses:

"To most people, piracy invokes the music recording industry, which has been decimated by illegal peer-to-peer file sharing. And counterfeiting conjures up images of the street vendor with impossibly cheap Rolexes or hit movies on DVD. But in our digital age, anyone who has a new invention, a creative idea or a technological breakthrough is at risk of a rip-off, whether it be in the automotive, entertainment, pharmaceutical, software or any other intellectual-property-dependent business sector.

This is the dark side of our Internet age. Digital technology, which can be such a boon to consumers and businesses, makes all data and information easily replicable and able to be transmitted at the speed of light around the world. With theft rendered effortless, it is becoming more pervasive. Indeed, the weight of piracy and counterfeiting could be taking the global economy toward a tipping point..."

Going forward, says Wright, governments and business leaders need to recognize the importance of intellectual property protection if they want to promote future economic growth:

"As important as intellectual property is to the economy today, it will become even more crucial in the future. Business leaders around the world and their respective governments have no choice but to mobilize the resources necessary to protect our most precious economic goods."