September Highlights: C4IP Launches New Website to Correct Patent Misinformation
For years, the Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge — better known as I-MAK — has sought to undermine America’s intellectual property system by advancing false narratives about drug patents. I-MAK purports to explain these myths, such as “patent thickets” and “product hopping,” using data. However, other research — including from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — has exposed flaws and oversights in I-MAK’s data, such as exaggerated patent counts. C4IP has consistently urged policymakers and the public not to take I-MAK’s assertions at face value, as narratives that are not grounded in evidence could mislead policymakers into making decisions that undermine IP rights and innovation.
In September, C4IP launched www.I-MAKexposed.com, a new website designed to help policymakers, journalists, and the public understand where I-MAK presents unreliable data. The site details why, contrary to many of I-MAK’s claims, strong patent protections in the life science industry are vital to ensure the development of new, lifesaving treatments and cures.
- C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen issued a statement announcing the launch of I-MAK Exposed and explaining the website’s mission of correcting patent misinformation.
- C4IP’s launch of I-MAK Exposed was featured in IPWatchdog’s weekly “Barks & Bites” news roundup for the week of September 19.
- I-MAK Exposed was cited in an IPWatchdog article on the problem of patent misinformation, which focused on false claims about biologic patents made in Nature Biotechnology and Amgen’s subsequent response correcting them.
Additional Coalition Updates
- On October 7, C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen submitted a letter to the Senate Judiciary IP Subcommittee ahead of its hearing, “The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act — Restoring Clarity, Certainty, and Predictability to the U.S. Patent System.” The letter expressed strong support for the legislation, emphasizing that PERA would restore U.S. patent eligibility for critical technologies like medical diagnostics, life sciences, and computer-related inventions, and reaffirm America’s global leadership in innovation.
- C4IP’s letter was featured in IPWatchdog’s coverage of the hearing.
- On October 7, C4IP Chief Policy Officer and Counsel Jamie Simpson was featured in an MLex article discussing the October 8 PERA hearing and the broader debate over Section 101 patent eligibility reform. Simpson noted that the uncertainty caused by recent Supreme Court decisions has forced innovators to “turn away from research projects” in affected fields and that PERA would provide a more predictable framework for determining what is eligible for patent protection.
- On September 18, C4IP Executive Director Frank Cullen submitted a letter to the House Judiciary IP Subcommittee ahead of its hearing “AI at a Crossroads,” cautioning that a federal moratorium on state AI regulation would foreclose opportunities for states to protect creators’ intellectual property rights from potential AI abuses.
- On September 18, C4IP issued a statement congratulating John Squires on his confirmation as the new Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and urging him to continue supporting pro-IP policies as he has throughout his career.
- On September 16, C4IP Board Member Judge Kathleen O’Malley (ret.) and Chief Policy Officer and Counsel Jamie Simpson spoke at IPWatchdog’s second annual Women’s IP Forum in Ashburn, Virginia with O’Malley leading a keynote fireside chat and Simpson featured on a panel on recent IP policy developments in Washington.
- On September 15, C4IP Chief Policy Officer and Counsel Jamie Simpson spoke on a panel discussion about the legal and strategic challenges of licensing and commercializing trade secrets at the Trade Secret Legal Protection 2025 conference in Boston.
- On September 8, C4IP Co-Chair Andrei Iancu was quoted in an Axios article on China’s surging biotech industry, warning about China’s growing dominance in AI, chemistry, and other sectors.