Like inventors in every sector, drug developers rely on strong patent protections to create new and innovative medicines. However, because of the prices of many drugs, activists frequently blame patents and accuse companies of abusing the patent system with tactics such as “product hopping,” “evergreening,” and “patent thicketing.” This troubling trend continued during the Senate
Karen Kerrigan, the president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, just published an opinion piece in the Buffalo News explaining how the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act and PREVAIL Act would help startups gain venture funding and bring their groundbreaking inventions to market. She illustrates the importance of patents to startup success, with
This month, C4IP is celebrating Ivan Getting, who made possible the invention of the Global Positioning System (GPS) and transformed the way that people around the world travel and do business. Getting was born in 1912 in New York City and studied at MIT and Oxford before the onset of World War II pushed him into a career in defense technology,
C4IP accomplished a lot during the month of May! Here’s a roundup of what our Coalition has been doing over the past month. May Highlights: Debunking Patent Myths As drug prices continue to be a focus for federal policymakers, anti-IP activists have seized the opportunity to blame the patent system. These attacks ignore the fundamental
Strong, consistent IP protections throughout U.S. history enabled the creation of the innovative and useful technologies that we use regularly today. From communication to transportation, every aspect of our lives has benefited greatly from IP, as shown by these historical examples from the month of May: 1964: On May 19, IBM engineers Louis Stevens, William
Bringing a new therapeutic to market is a challenging and costly endeavor. Strong intellectual property protections, which enable manufacturers to recoup their successful investments into new treatments, are absolutely essential to encouraging innovation. However, activists and government regulators who seek to weaken IP rights often fail to recognize this fundamental reality. One example of this
C4IP Co-Chair and former USPTO Director Andrei Iancu, along with Mark Cohen, the former director of UC Berkeley’s Asia IP Project, recently published an opinion piece in the International Business Times focusing on China’s secretive policy of issuing anti-suit injunctions, which puts innovative American companies at a major disadvantage when fighting patent theft from Chinese
This month, C4IP is recognizing William Coolidge, who transformed medicine with his invention of the modern X-ray. Coolidge was born in 1873 in Hudson, Massachusetts, and studied electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of Leipzig before joining the General Electric Research Laboratory. He earned more than 80 patents during his
C4IP was busy over the past month! Here’s a roundup of what our Coalition accomplished during the month of April. April Highlights: Reforming Patent Adjudication With PREVAIL The Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act was introduced by Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
Strong, consistent IP protections throughout U.S. history enabled the creation of the innovative and useful technologies that we use regularly today. From communication to entertainment, every aspect of our lives has benefited greatly from IP, as shown by these historical examples from the month of April: 1973: On April 17, Ralph Baer received a patent
Patents provide crucial incentives for inventors and businesses to invest time and funds into cutting-edge and emerging technologies. However, a series of Supreme Court decisions issued during the 2010s muddled the state of patent eligibility for many such technologies, such as medical diagnostics and artificial intelligence. The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) would restore pre-2010
C4IP is recognizing Margaret Knight, one of the most prolific female inventors of the 19th century. She is best known for her invention of a machine for producing paper bags. Knight was born in York, Maine, in 1838, and worked in textile mills from a very early age following the death of her father. She created her first invention at
