Op-Eds

C4IP board member and retired federal judge Kathleen O’Malley recently published a new opinion piece in World Intellectual Property Review on how the proposed NO FAKES Act would help guard creators’ and artists’ intellectual property against the misuse of emerging AI technology. The Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act would create a new “digital replication right,” which allows individuals to authorize or prohibit the use of their likeness and voice. As O’Malley explains, existing laws are insufficient to govern the use of AI technology, which has transformative potential but also a large capacity for misuse. The NO FAKES Act would allow for further AI development and encourage creative uses of the technology while simultaneously protecting human singers, actors, and artists for years to come. O’Malley concludes, “The NO FAKES Act would preserve the incentives that drive creative expression — while ensuring that, in the digital age, our identities, our art, and our innovations remain inviolably our own.”

Colorado College professor of economics Kristina M. L. Acri just published a new opinion piece in the Denver Post on the 2006 Supreme Court ruling, in eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., which has harmed American innovation by undermining small companies and entrepreneurs. The eBay decision eliminated injunctions – court orders requiring infringers to stop using stolen intellectual property – as the default course of action in the face of proven patent, copyright, or trademark infringement. That case rendered many small inventors defenseless against corporate behemoths that infringed on their products and kept them from creating and marketing next-generation technologies. Acri concludes by asserting that the long term effects of eBay “demand a thorough reexamination of how we balance innovation protection with fair competition in the 21st century.”

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.”