Patent Reform, Strong Copyright Exceptions Needed in Digital Age, House Judiciary Subcommittee Members Told
Many members of Congress and technologists agree the patent system needs reform, lawmakers said during a Thursday hearing by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. In addition to concerns about patent assertion entities, subcommittee members heard from technologists about the need for a strong system of copyright exceptions and limitations. “The copyright and technology sectors are two very important components of our economy that have a unique symbiotic relationship,” Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said. “They are both also responsible for significant amounts of American innovation that is the envy of the world.”
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The need for action on patent litigation abuse is something for which there is “near uniform agreement” among members of the subcommittee and elsewhere in Congress, said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. Van Lindberg, Rackspace vice president-intellectual property, agreed, saying lawmakers need to “stop the patent troll problem.” Patent assertion entities -- often enforcing patents that should not have been issued because they protect minor aspects of an invention -- should be “forced to make their allegations clear upfront,” he said. “They hide the ball for years” to drag out litigation and make it more expensive for the companies being sued. Companies dealing with patent litigation often don’t know what entity is providing the financial support for the lawsuits, he said. “Illuminating those relationships would be huge.” Additionally, patents should protect innovations for shorter amounts of time, Lindberg said. SparkFun Electronics CEO Nathan Seidle suggested the period be shortened to five years, “so that further innovation can be done once technology is reaching the end of its lifespan."
The patent system can prevent, rather than encourage, innovation, Seidle said. He said his company doesn’t secure or enforce patents on the technologies it produces, instead relying on out-innovating, rather than out-litigating, his competitors. “The creation of a patent and the enforcement of a patent is a distraction” from innovation, he said. “Attempting to stop pirates is a waste of time.” “Isn’t it important to maintain a system where content owners have the right to decide … where, why and how to share their innovations,” asked Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif. Seidle agreed innovators should have control over the openness of their innovations but said patents create “a false sense of security” because an innovation can be recreated and improved upon within weeks.
Congress should strengthen safe harbors if it wants to alter copyright law, Lindberg said. Rackspace receives many computer-generated erroneous takedown notices, including copyright holders requesting the takedown of something they've given permission for or posted themselves, he said. “A software program is a lousy substitute for a conversation between humans.” Chu and Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., asked about the ability of independent copyright holders to take the time and resources to monitor the Internet for infringing content, rather than relying on computers to monitor for them. Rackspace is eager to take down infringing content, but “I think it’s important to work human to human,” Lindberg replied. A lot of the blatant online piracy of copyrighted works takes place on websites that are not based in the U.S., he said.
Congress needs to “defend fair use as a laboratory for creativity” to “inspire economic growth and social good,” Jim Fruchterman, CEO of Benetech, which operates the online accessible library Bookshare. Through Bookshare -- and with the protection of fair use -- individuals can scan and upload copyrighted, printed works, he said; those works can then be delivered digitally in a variety of formats to users with print disabilities. By crowdsourcing the uploading process, accessible formats of books are available through Bookshare sooner than they are through the publishers, he said. Bookshare’s users include individuals with print disabilities beyond visual impairments, including users with dyslexia, he said. “Please keep these people who aren’t blind in mind as you revisit” copyright law.
A copyright registration system would diminish the problem of orphan works -- or copyrighted works whose copyright holder can’t be determined or located -- Rackspace’s Lindberg said, responding to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who inquired about potential efficacy of an intellectual property registration system. “Some sort of registration system would help a lot with the problem of orphan works,” Lindberg said. “It’s not promoting the progress of science and the useful arts to have these things locked up.”