In the U.S. Senate, there is a push to markup the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA) and the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership Act (PREVAIL). Both are patent-related legislation introduced in the Senate, and PREVAIL has been introduced in the House. The recent lobbying blitz by those on all sides of the […]
The Electronic Frontier Foundation: the Lobbyists Destroying US Innovation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. 501(c)(3)s are largely prohibited from lobbying for candidates or legislation, even though a small portion of a 501(c)(3)’s resources can be used to lobby for legislation. The EFF lobbies a lot on many issues. Among those issues, for many years, the EFF has lobbied heavily […]
Hopelessly Inexperienced PTAB Judges are Destroying U.S. Innovation
In December 2023, the Senate IP Subcommittee held a hearing on the Promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership Act, S.2220 (PREVAIL), which affects the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The PTAB is an appalling failure, invalidating 84% of the patents it fully adjudicates, thereby unleashing massive predatory infringement of small entity patents […]
China Uses the USPTO to Take a Critical Minerals Market
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has perfected the art of stealing U.S. technologies and taking control of entire markets. Their methods range from the well-known, like forced technology transfers or outright stealing technology, to more subtle methods like enlisting the U.S. government to destroy U.S. company patents, clearing the way for the CCP to dominate […]
Bad Patents: The Political Narrative Driving PERA
Over the last twenty years, Big Tech drove what is probably the most effective political narrative in history into the collective mind of all three branches of government. Patent trolls, they exclaimed, are destroying innovation, and only the government can save America. As a result, all three branches of government gutted the patent system. Lawmakers, […]
U.S. Innovation was on the Table in the Senate Hearing on PERA
On Tuesday, January 23, 2024, the Senate Judiciary’s IP Subcommittee held a hearing on the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA). The corporate lobbyists tell us that PERA will fix patent eligibility problems plaguing U.S. innovation for biotech, diagnostic methods, and inventions implemented in software. In his opening statement, Senator Tillis said, “We’ve said many […]
13 Unelected People Have Destroyed U.S. Innovation
Thousands of years of human history have taught us that a just political system is not possible without separating power. No one should ever have total power over any one thing. When power is concentrated in the hands of too few people, those in power invariably become corrupt. Often corruption is born in bias created […]
China, the Once Great Silicon Valley, and the Petri Dish Effect
My dad worked at Fairchild from the late 1950’s through the 1960’s. His second level boss was Robert Noyce, the inventor of planar technology, which placed my dad on the team that put the first integrated circuit into mass production. Noyce left Fairchild to start up Intel in 1968. Shortly afterwards, Noyce offered my dad […]
A Rogue Farm Trade Group Threatens to Destroy Farm Property.
We are at a pivotal moment. China now leads the United States in 37 of 44 technologies critical to our national security and economic growth. These technologies range from artificial intelligence to crop seeds, and everything in between, including technologies key to the Broadband Equity and Access Deployment (BEAD) program. Ironically, Burton Eller, Legislative Director […]