In their new opinion piece published in The Hill, C4IP Co-Chairs and former USPTO Directors Andrei Iancu and David Kappos call attention to a growing threat to American innovation: the erosion of patent enforcement, which in recent years has allowed intellectual property theft to go largely unpunished.
Even after securing a patent and successfully proving infringement in court, innovators often find that the infringer can continue selling the stolen product with minimal consequences. Iancu and Kappos liken this phenomenon to someone being found guilty of trespassing but still being allowed to live in your home. This breakdown of basic property rights, they argue, defies common sense and jeopardizes America’s global technological leadership.
To address the issue, they urge Congress to pass the bipartisan RESTORE Patent Rights Act, which would once again make injunctive relief the standard remedy in cases where valid patents are infringed.
“By passing this much-needed reform, lawmakers can protect the rights of inventors — instead of rewarding thieves who steal innovators’ ideas in disregard of America’s technological leadership.”
Read the full op-ed here:
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/5173199-patent-system-reform/