Name: It’s Time to Kick Patent Trolls Out of the International Trade Commission
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It’s Time to Kick Patent Trolls Out of the International Trade Commission

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Email updates on news, actions,and events in your area.DEEPLINKS BLOGShare ItThe International Trade Commission, or ITC, is a federal agency in Washington D.C. that investigates unfair trade practices. Unfortunately, in recent years, it has also become a magnet for some of the worst abusers of the U.S. patent system. Now, there’s a bill in Congress, the Protecting America’s Interest Act (), that could finally get patent trolls out of the ITC—a place they never should have been allowed in the first place.Patent owners can ask the Commission to investigate an allegation of infringement, in addition to their right to bring a patent infringement case into federal court. The ITC can’t award damages like a district court can, but the ITC can grant an “exclusion order,” which bans importation of the excluded item, and orders customs agents to seize products at the border.Not everyone is entitled to ask the ITC for an exclusion order; the complainant must be part of a “domestic industry.” But over the years, administrative law judges at the ITC have lowered the bar for what that requires. Engaging in patent licensing and litigation—without more—is enough to establish a “domestic industry” in this country, in the eyes of ITC judges. That means patent trolls, which produce no goods or services, can qualify. Even patent assertion entities based in other countries are using the ITC. For example, last year, the ITC in which an Ireland-based patent troll sought to stop 80% of U.S. imports on Android tablets, 86% of Windows tablets, and .&nbsp;The ITC was never intended to be a forum for domestic companies based on allegations of patent infringement. But that’s exactly what it has become. &nbsp;Since 2006, the ITC’s own data show that are brought by entities that don’t practice the patent, which are, more often than not, patent trolls. The fast pace of ITC litigation, which has an 18-month time limit, makes it more expensive and less fair to defendants than district court litigation. When U.S. companies are forced to pay huge legal fees, and big settlements, to avoid threatening their product lines, prices go up and consumers are the losers.&nbsp;Our patent system is broken, and in need of reform. Getting patent trolls out of the ITC is one important step toward that goal—and one we can achieve. The Advancing America’s Interests Act, , would require complainants at the ITC to show that they are part of a real domestic industry—one that employs labor or capital, or invests in plants, equipment, or research and development. “Licensing” would meet the requirement for a domestic industry only if it leads to “adoption and development of articles” that embody the patented work.&nbsp;H.R. 8037, sponsored by Representatives Suzan DelBene (D-WA) and David Schweikert (R-AZ), would also compel the commission to put the public interest front and center when it considers issuing an “exclusion order.” Currently, the law only requires that the ITC consider the public interest as one of four separate factors. If H.R. 8037 were to pass, the ITC would have to affirmatively decide that each exclusion order is in the public interest.&nbsp;While Congress may not have time to take this bill up before the election, we hope ITC reform is on the table in 2021. We supported a . Since then, patent abusers&nbsp;continue to be&nbsp;regulars at the ITC. It’s time to bid them farewell.&nbsp;Share ItThe government bestows temporary monopolies in the form of patents to promote future innovation and economic growth. Antitrust law empowers the government to break up monopolies when their power is so great and their conduct is so corrosive of competition that they can dictate market outcomes without worrying about their...In the U.S., we don’t expect or allow government officials – including judges--to be speech police. Courts are allowed to restrain speech only in the rarest circumstances, subject to strict limitations. So we were troubled to learn that a judge in Missouri has issued an order stifling the speech of...In 2012, Ubisoft launched an educational called Rocksmith. The idea was simple: why get good at playing a toy guitar, as in games like “Guitar Hero,” when you can use—and learn to play—the real thing? Their game helps beginner musicians identify the skills they need to work...The public’s right of access to court proceedings is well-established as a legal principle, but it needs constant defending. In part, that’s because private parties keep asking publicly-funded courts to resolve their disputes in secret. As and have written before, this problem is especially great in...When individuals and companies are wrongly accused of patent infringement, they should be encouraged to stand up and defend themselves. When they win, the public does too. While the patent owner loses revenue, the rest of society gets greater access to knowledge, product choice, and space for innovation. This is...In 2014, the Supreme Court decided the landmark Alice v. CLS Bank case. The Court held generic computers, performing generic computer functions, can’t make something eligible for patent protection. That shouldn’t be controversial, but it took Alice to make this important limitation on patent-eligibility crystal clear. Last year, the Patent...Certain patent owners just can’t get enough of the monopoly power patents bestow. That’s why they keep trying to make it easier to get and sue over patents, despite Supreme Court rulings that point in the opposite direction. Their latest effort, the misleadingly-named “Inventors Rights Act,” also known asTwo Congressmen recently introduced a bill that would create a special type of patent called an “Inventor-Owned Patent.” Having classified a group of “inventors,” the Inventor Rights Act () goes on to give them a long list of special privileges that will help them sue other people for...Governments around the world are taking steps to make sure that private corporations don’t use the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to make unjustified monopoly profits. They’re doing that by ensuring that governments can override patents and issue compulsory licenses for COVID-19 related treatments, vaccines, and tools. Canada’sJust like us, federal judges are continuing to grapple with the challenges of COVID-19 and its impact on their ability to do their jobs. Less than two weeks ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. announced that April’s oral arguments inShare It

Email updates on news, actions,and events in your area.DEEPLINKS BLOGShare ItThe International Trade Commission, or ITC, is a federal agency in Washington D.C. that investigates unfair trade practices. Unfortunately, in recent years, it has also become a magnet for some of the worst abusers of the U.S. patent system. Now, there’s a bill in Congress, the Protecting America’s Interest Act (), that could finally get patent trolls out of the ITC—a place they never should have been allowed in the first place.Patent owners can ask the Commission to investigate an allegation of infringement, in...

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Joe Mullin

We're the Electronic Frontier Foundation. We defend your civil liberties in a digital world.

It’s Time to Kick Patent Trolls Out of the International Trade Commission

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