August Highlights: Setting the Record Straight on the DOJ/FTC Listening Sessions
The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission recently hosted listening sessions on “Lowering Americans’ Drug Prices Through Competition.” While aimed at exploring ways to expand generic and biosimilar availability, the sessions amplified misleading claims about the patent system — such as allegations of “low-quality” patents, “patent thickets,” and “product hopping.”
In August, C4IP submitted a letter correcting the record, emphasizing that U.S. patents are overwhelmingly high-quality, that multiple patents on complex medicines reflect genuine innovation, and that improvements like new insulin formulations deliver life-saving benefits. C4IP noted that existing laws already ensure robust generic and biosimilar competition, with these products filling 90% of U.S. prescriptions. We also warned that legislative proposals built on these myths — including the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act, the ETHIC Act, and the Drug Competition Enhancement Act — would weaken innovation incentives and slow medical progress.
- C4IP’s letter was covered in an IPWatchdog article, which highlighted the Council’s warning to avoid enacting measures that would weaken patent rights under “the false premise of improving affordability.”
Read It Now: “C4IP Letter to FTC & DOJ RE Drug Pricing Listening Sessions”
Additional Coalition Updates
- On September 15-17, C4IP Chief Policy Officer and Counsel Jamie Simpson will speak at the Trade Secret Legal Protection 2025 conference in Boston. Jamie will join a panel on “IP Monetization: Trade Secret – Harmonization or Counteraction?” discussing the legal and strategic challenges of licensing and commercializing trade secrets, balancing confidentiality with partnerships, and weighing trade secret protection against patent exclusivity. Learn more and register here.
- On September 15-17, IPWatchdog will host its Second Annual Women’s IP Forum at IPWatchdog Studios in Ashburn, VA. The event will feature an all-women lineup of expert speakers in the IP field — including Board Member and former Federal Circuit Judge Kathleen O’Malley, as well as C4IP Chief Policy Officer and Counsel Jamie Simpson. Learn more and register here.
- On August 29, C4IP Co-Chair Andrei Iancu and former U.S. Secretary of the Navy and U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Norway Kenneth Braithwaite published an opinion essay in Fortune underscoring how U.S. national security depends on the administration’s commitment to fostering investment in new technologies by ensuring strong, reliable, and enforceable intellectual property rights.
- On August 27, C4IP Co-Chair Andrei Iancu and former NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană published an opinion essay in Newsweek arguing that Western governments must band together to protect IP to compete technologically with adversaries like China.
“Each lost patent, each stolen trade secret, and each weakened protection is not just an economic loss; it is a strategic setback, ceding ground in the race to develop the technologies that will define the future of global power.”
- On August 26, C4IP and We Work for Health hosted a roundtable in Raleigh, North Carolina, highlighting the critical role of intellectual property in fueling innovation, economic growth, and patient care. The event, “Catalyzing North Carolina’s Innovation Ecosystem,” featured Congresswoman Deborah Ross (NC-2) and other leading voices from the state’s life sciences sector.
- On August 19, C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen issued a statement urging Congress to oppose the recently reintroduced Medication Affordability and Patent Integrity Act, warning that the bill would jeopardize trade secrets, weaken patents, and delay patient access to breakthrough treatments.
- On August 13, C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen was quoted in a Law360 article emphasizing that the federal government has never exercised Bayh-Dole Act march-in rights.
- On August 11, C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen issued a statement raising concerns about the Commerce Department’s letter to Harvard University initiating the “march-in” process under Bayh-Dole. The statement warned that such a step could deter investment in federally funded discoveries and undermine public-private partnerships.
- C4IP’s statement was quoted in articles in IPWatchdog and Legal Era, and was also featured in IAM’s coverage of the letter.
- On August 11, C4IP Chief Policy Officer and Counsel Jamie Simpson was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article commending ongoing changes to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board petition process, which will limit duplicative challenges and protect innovators from potential abuses of the system by competitors.
- On August 5, C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen issued a statement opposing the newly introduced Eliminating Thickets to Increase Competition (ETHIC) Act, warning that the bill would erode enforcement of patents and thereby destabilize innovation.
- C4IP’s statement opposing ETHIC was the subject of articles in IPWatchdog and Law360.
- On August 4, C4IP issued a statement applauding the European Commission’s decision to withdraw its proposed regulation for standard-essential patents, which would have undermined free-market-based FRAND licensing principles in favor an onerous, centralized bureaucratic process to set licensing rates.
- On August 3, C4IP was quoted in IPWatchdog’s article on the European Commission’s withdrawal of proposed SEP regulation, expressing approval of the decision.