Op-Eds

Netlist founder and CEO Chuck Hong recently published a new opinion piece in Fortune discussing his experiences as a tech entrepreneur and victim of predatory infringement, and highlighting how the RESTORE Patent Rights Act and PREVAIL Act could keep Big Tech in check. He explains how Google has stolen Netlist’s patented technology by taking advantage of the America Invents Act (AIA), a law that allows patents to be challenged repeatedly. By challenging the same patent over and over at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), Big Tech can drain small businesses of time and money, which ultimately damages innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide. Hong concludes by stating the importance of strengthening IP rights through reforms such as  the RESTORE Patent Rights Act and PREVAIL Act — which would prevent Big Tech companies from abusing their legal and financial resources to steal competitors’ patents. In Hong’s words, “For too long, Big Tech has used the AIA to bully inventors and small businesses. It’s time for lawmakers to stop this abuse.”

Former U.S. Ambassador to China, U.S. Secretary of Commerce, and Governor of Washington Gary Locke just published a new opinion piece in the Financial Times explaining how modernizing the patent system is essential for maintaining global competitiveness and advancing society at large in the United States. Many multi-billion dollar industries exist today because of solid patent laws and IP protection. Yet over time, the US patent system has become outdated and confusing — and as Locke argues, this poses a risk to America’s global standing at the forefront of innovation. He highlights three bills currently in Congress that would vastly improve patent laws — the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA), the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership (PREVAIL) Act, and the RESTORE Patent Rights Act. Locke implores Congress to pass these crucial reforms immediately, warning, “If other nations succeed in making their patent systems stronger than our own, Americans could lose out on many of these benefits.”

C4IP Co-Chairs and former USPTO Directors Andrei Iancu and David Kappos just published a new opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal exploring how the ambiguity of the USPTO’s recent guidance on patenting AI-assisted inventions could inadvertently discourage inventors from making use of artificial intelligence tools. They highlight numerous ambiguities in the guidance — including not defining what computer functions or programs constitute AI — and argue that this uncertainty will put a target on the back of any patent application that made use of a computer, potentially denying patent protection to the very researchers driving our progress in high-tech fields. Instead of finalizing this flawed guidance, Iancu and Kappos write, the Patent Office should “do its part to encourage AI-facilitated inventions by issuing new guidance that recognizes AI as a tool—and a productive one at that.”