Congress needs to reform a quasi-judicial tribunal that Large Tech corporations have weaponized to assault their smaller rivals. These Large Tech corporations are rightfully anxious that the reform laws will stop them from stealing smaller corporations’ applied sciences with out compensation after which exhausting the smaller corporations with endless authorized challenges on the tribunal.
Congress created the Patent Trial and Enchantment Board in 2011 with good intentions. Lawmakers hoped it could be a sooner, cheaper discussion board to resolve disputes about patent validity in comparison with the federal courts.
Sadly, Large Tech corporations virtually instantly weaponized the tribunal. After infringing the patents of less-established rivals, tech giants repeatedly problem the underlying validity of these patents on the PTAB—whereas on the similar time making the identical challenges in federal court docket. They do that to put on down small inventors, who normally lack the assets to defend their IP towards an onslaught of parallel and repetitive challenges.
To repair this downside, Congress has launched a bipartisan invoice referred to as the PREVAIL Act, which might crack down on abusive patent challenges and ban duplicative litigation on the PTAB and in federal court docket.
Opponents declare that PREVAIL will in some way elevate drug costs by making it simpler to defend pharmaceutical patents and block the introduction of cheaper generics. However given how few drug patents are challenged in any respect on the PTAB, it’s clear this argument is a stalking horse for Large Tech’s actual considerations in regards to the invoice. Moreover, PREVAIL doesn’t stop any protection towards a patent—it simply prevents the identical protection from being made a number of occasions, which solely serves to empty assets and weaken legit patents.
Clearly, Large Tech lobbyists can’t advance a principled foundation to defend mental property theft. “Let us keep stealing, it’s great!” is hardly a successful argument. So, as an alternative, they’re making an attempt to discredit the reform invoice by arguing that it’ll result in larger prescription drug prices.
Fortuitously, new knowledge from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Workplace, which we each beforehand ran underneath Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, debunks this fable. From September 2012 to March 2024, solely 3% of all challenges on the tribunal concerned patents masking brand-name prescription drugs. And simply 2% of challenges concerned patents for biologic medicine.
Merely put, the PTAB isn’t a big battleground for drug patents. The overwhelming majority of PTAB challenges contain electronics and laptop know-how. Sturdy patents catalyze innovation throughout just about all high-tech industries. Lawmakers can’t permit falsehoods to sink PREVAIL. Passing this laws is crucial to make sure the U.S. stays aggressive in areas like synthetic intelligence, quantum computing, and engineering. Startups and small corporations are sometimes on the forefront of growing such applied sciences, however they’ll by no means succeed if company behemoths can plunder their concepts and bully them with repetitive litigation after they combat again.
If we let the U.S. patent system deteriorate, we threat relinquishing our place as a worldwide technological chief, endangering U.S. financial competitiveness and nationwide safety.
PREVAIL would create a stage taking part in subject the place small companies have a preventing likelihood towards established trade giants. To defend our geopolitical standing and financial prosperity, Congress ought to go it instantly—and ignore false and deceptive speaking factors.
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