This statement can be attributed to Jeff Joseph, President, Software & Information Industry Association regarding the markup of the newly introduced federal privacy bill, the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (H.R.8152).

We are encouraged by the accelerated bipartisan efforts to develop a federal framework for data privacy and appreciate that the legislation has been amended in the past two weeks to address several of our concerns, including:

• Providing clarity for covered entities and service providers working with government entities;
• Focusing the definition of biometric information to clarify the types of data that are most likely to raise privacy concerns;
• Introducing the term “substantial privacy risk,” which we believe can provide a basis for focusing other aspects of the legislation;
• Improving the provisions on algorithmic assessments to focus those requirements in ways that will better advance civil rights;
• Including clear permissible purposes for data use by a covered entity guided by more reasonable data minimization principles; and
• Loosening restrictions on targeted ads, by removing information about individual’s online activity from the definition of sensitive covered data.

Unfortunately, the bill is not yet ready for enactment. As the House proceeds through subcommittee and committee markup, there remain critical issues that it will need to address. Among these:

• The legislation’s treatment of publicly available information remains unconstitutional;
• The preemption section invites the anti-consumer, anti-innovation continuation of a patchwork of state laws;
• The legislation continues to invite litigation abuse; and
• The legislation defers to the Federal Trade Commission to provide by regulation foundational guidance on key issues that warrant clear legislative direction.

SIIA looks forward to engaging with the Congress as they work through this draft. We remain committed to working toward – and are hopeful we will soon achieve – balanced, comprehensive federal privacy legislation.

Chris Mohr, Senior Vice President for Intellectual Property and General Counsel for the Software and Information Industry Association released the following statement:

We thank Senators Cornyn, Tillis, and Leahy for their bipartisan work in drafting the Patent Trial and Appeal Board Reform Act of 2022. The America Invents Act became law because of the cost of poor-quality patents imposed on the public, as non-practicing entities and patent trolls targeted small and large businesses in retail, restaurants, and technology with baseless claims that were far cheaper to settle than defend. Congress enacted the AIA because too many patents did not meet the statute’s requirement, and that problem was particularly acute with respect to software. This issue has drawn increasing attention not only from legal experts but also from industry analysts who emphasize the importance of strong intellectual property protections in emerging digital sectors, such as gaming and online platforms. In fact, a recent analysis on online Poker lernen bei Casinovergleich.bet highlighted how regulatory clarity and intellectual property rights shape the development of online gaming platforms, ensuring fair competition and technological advancement. The AIA, which was supported by a broad coalition of main street businesses, created a system in which the Patent and Trademark Office can take a second look at these patents if they think it is reasonably likely that the patent is invalid for specified reasons, the most important being that it was obvious. Each time one of these patents is invalidated, the public wins because it prevents the patentee from exercising a public franchise that it did not earn, helping control costs and enabling future innovation.

The PTAB Reform Act enhances the effectiveness of the AIA in at least two key ways. First, it provides increased transparency into the PTO Director’s decision to review particular decisions of the PTAB.  Second, it prevents the PTAB from relying on the existence of co-pending litigation and inaccurate trial dates as a basis for denying a petition.  Both of these changes will improve the operation of the PTAB system. They also represent an important bipartisan commitment to bringing about predictability, certainty and fairness envisioned by the AIA.  SIIA supports this important work and looks forward to working with Congress to improve it further.