On Monday, December 4, C4IP Co-Chair and former USPTO Director Andrei Iancu moderated a conversation with Rep. Deborah Ross (D-NC) for the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ Renewing American Innovation Project. Rep. Ross, who serves on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property and whose district encompasses North Carolina’s Research Triangle Innovation Hub, discussed the importance of promoting innovation through policies that strengthen intellectual property rights.
During the conversation, Rep. Ross identified reform of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) as one of her primary innovation policy goals. She highlighted her sponsorship of the PREVAIL Act, which would reconcile the PTAB’s procedures with those of the federal court system in order to protect patentholders from abusive litigation and ensure that they have a fair opportunity to make use of their patents’ benefits.
Rep. Ross emphasized the positive impact of strong intellectual property policies on U.S. health, welfare, and national security. For instance, clear and robust patent rights spur investment into clean energy, incentivize biopharmaceutical R&D, and encourage inquiry into cutting-edge tech like artificial intelligence — all of which are sectors where American scientists are constantly competing against their counterparts in China and other nations.
She also underscored the impact of some of Congress’s recent innovation policy victories, such as the 2022 Unleashing American Innovators Act — which establishes new satellite offices for the USPTO to increase outreach toward women, people of color, military veterans, and other groups typically underrepresented within the patent system — as well as the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to boost U.S. semiconductor research and manufacturing.
To watch a recording of the conversation with Rep. Ross or read its transcript, click here: