Trump’s Plan for Patent Tax: A New Approach to Corporate Fairness
In an era where intellectual property (IP) drives economic dominance, the United States faces a critical challenge: multinational corporations offshoring their patent portfolios to low-tax havens, eroding the nation’s tax base and undermining fair competition. Recent proposals from President Donald Trump’s Commerce Department transition team offer a bold solution—an annual tax on patents valued at […]
The Tiny Words That Could Cripple American Innovation
Imagine a company that spends years, millions of dollars, and countless hours on a breakthrough product, only to have its intellectual property (IP) stolen by a single sentence hidden in a routine document. Unfortunately, this isn’t a hypothetical scenario. It’s the central issue in Vicor Corporation v. International Trade Commission, a case that threatens to dismantle […]
Time to Turn the US Rejection Office back into the US Patent Office: Part 3
USPTO’s Office of Patent Quality Assurance (OPQA) results show that US patent examiners adhere tightly to performance incentives that value speed and volume over quality. See Parts 1` and 2 of this series. Here in Part 3, we drill into the quality element of the patent examiners performance and appraisal plan (PAP) to identify criteria […]
The Tillis Amendment Should Be Removed from the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping piece of must-pass legislation, is moving through the U.S. Senate under budget reconciliation. These omnibus bills often become vehicles for advancing pet projects and rewarding campaign donors. Lawmakers can quietly attach provisions that benefit allies as long as they’re not controversial enough to jeopardize the larger package allowing […]
SPARK US Innovation Opposes PERA: A Call for Amendment to Protect American Innovation
The United States has long been a beacon of innovation, driving global advancements in technology and securing economic and national security through intellectual property protections. However, this leadership is under threat, and SPARK US Innovation, a group dedicated to advancing critical emerging technologies (CET), is sounding the alarm. SPARK opposes the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of […]
Reinventing Patent Quality: A NIST-Based Program for the USPTO
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the cornerstone of America’s innovation engine, issuing patents that fuel technological advancement and economic growth. However, perceptions of poor patent quality, driven by vague claim language, inconsistent examinations, costly litigation, and occasional bad rulings by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) or the […]
Time to Turn the US Rejection Office Back into the US Patent Office – Part 2
Analyzing the US Rejection Office Given the USPTO’s pro-rejection tendencies introduced in Part 1 of this series, one might expect the agency would function like a well-oiled machine to properly reject claims in a smooth and efficient fashion. MPEP guidance on how to examine and reject claims is extensive, straightforward and reasonable. Examples include: MPEP […]
Time to Turn the US Rejection Office Back into the US Patent Office – Part 1
In 2024, the Sunwater Institute’s study Patent Quality in the United States, Findings and Suggestions for Policy Makers, determined that This outcome was observed in groups that examined chemical, mechanical, telecommunications, computer and electronical technologies. From the Sunwater Institute report, it can be estimated that TC3600 improperly rejects 15% of claims directed to electric vehicles, […]
Why Patent Reform Is Urgent: How China Exploits U.S. Disclosures and Undermines Innovation
In 2007, the United States led the world in 60 out of 64 technologies critical to our economic and national security. However, warning signs that a shift had occurred emerged in 2018 when it was reported that China accounted for 48% of global Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup funding in 2017, surpassing the U.S., which held […]