Media Library (18)

United for Patent Reform’s Feedback Regarding the USPTO Initiatives To Ensure the Robustness and Reliability of Patent Rights (RFC)

by Policy

United for Patent Reform (UFPR)  appreciates the opportunity to respond to the request for comments on USPTO Initiatives to Ensure the Robustness and Reliability of Patent Rights published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO” or “Office”) in the Federal Register.

UFPR is a broad coalition of diverse American businesses advocating for a patent system that enhances patent quality, advances meaningful innovation, and protects legitimate American businesses from abusive patent litigation.

While many of UFPR’s members are patent holders, a greater percentage hold no patents at all, and their only interaction with the patent system is getting sued or threatened with suit by a patent holder, typically a non-practicing entity (NPE). More often than not, this is on the basis of vague, over-broad patents that should not have issued in the first place, and primarily for technology where the targeted business is simply an end user of the product at issue, and not the creator of the product itself. This is why UFPR cares deeply about the patent system and making sure that it works so that the benefits of innovation can be experienced by all Americans, while the harms of abusive litigation are not.

Read full statement here.

Media Library (17)

SIIA’s Response to the USPTO Initiatives to Ensure the Robustness and Reliability of Patent Rights

by Policy

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) appreciates the opportunity to respond to the request for comments on USPTO Initiatives to Ensure the Robustness and Reliability of Patent Rights published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO” or “Office”) in the Federal Register on Tuesday, October 4, 2022.

    • We agree that robustness will improve by providing patent examiners more resources.
    • We agree that increased cooperation between examiners and applicants will improve patent robustness.
    • We support any movement toward bringing about some finality to the prosecution process.
    • Read the full statement here.

SIIA applauds the PTO’s focus on improving patent robustness and urges it to continue with these improvements. Thank you for considering our views.

Media Library (16)

SIIA Statement on NTIA “Competition in the Mobile Application Ecosystem” Report

by PolicyPress Release

The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) has issued the following statement in response to the release of the “Competition in the Mobile Application Ecosystem” by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) which evaluates the state of play in mobile apps as well as the means of distribution.  The statement can be attributed to Chris Mohr, SIIA President.

We commend NTIA for producing this comprehensive report and appreciate that they acknowledged some of our comments, including that the mobile ecosystem is much broader than just mobile phone apps. We also agree with NTIA that the mobile app ecosystem is characterized by robust competition with millions of apps available for users to choose from. The case for disrupting a competitive and well-functioning ecosystem has therefore not been made.

However, as the administration and Congress weigh further action, it will be important for them to be honest about the complex trade-offs that any future policy decisions will require.  This includes being transparent about the fact that several of the report’s suggested remedies are highly tenuous.  The report references two bills that did not pass the last Congress in part because of potentially serious risks to user privacy and U.S. national security. The report also mentions the EU’s Digital Markets Act as a potential source of inspiration–an unproven new law in the early stages of implementation.

Any actions by the administration and Congress must be narrowly tailored, protect consumer privacy as well as U.S. economic and national security interests and not aimed to single out and punish a small group of U.S. companies to give an advantage to their competitors.

Media Library (14)

SIIA Applauds House Energy & Commerce Committee Hearing On Dangers of American Competition with China

by PolicyPress Release

The following statement can be attributed to Paul Lekas, Senior Vice President, Global Policy, Software & Information Industry Association.

SIIA applauds the House Energy & Commerce Committee for holding a subcommittee hearing on the economic dangers of American competition with China. The hearing incorporates a number of important issues, including protections for access to American’s sensitive personal information and that a federal privacy law should ensure that companies disclose whether their personal information is “sent to, transferred, or otherwise made available to China, as well as other foreign countries including Russia, North Korea, and Iran.”

SIIA has long advocated for the passage of a federal privacy law, which is a high priority for the information industry. We agree with the Committee that the US should enact federal privacy and data security standards to ensure “regulatory certainty” and a uniform set of rules for all companies, regardless of their market size or scope. A national privacy standard will bring positive returns for the state of the economy, strengthen national security, and encourage continued growth in the innovation ecosystem.

As noted in the briefing memo, Chinese companies enjoy a nationalized privacy and data security standard, which, coupled with U.S. inaction on data privacy and security, would provide a competitive edge.

SIIA also applauds the Energy & Commerce Committee for requesting Tik Tok’s CEO to testify in March about the company’s data privacy and security practices.