The White House announced a series of executive actions and legislative recommendations Tuesday that a senior administration official said were “specifically designed” to deal with abusive patent litigation. The White House’s actions follow the introduction of four bills in Congress -- including three in the last month -- that would address patent litigation abuse caused by patent assertion entities (PAEs). The discussion draft of a fifth bill, crafted by the House Judiciary Committee, is circulating through industry and legislative circles (WID June 3 p1).
President Barack Obama directed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to begin creating rules to require patent applicants and patent owners to “regularly” update the ownership information on file at PTO when they are involved in PTO proceedings. The rules are targeted at making “real party in interest” (RPI) disclosure a default action. Obama also directed PTO to develop strategies over the next six months to improve patent claim clarity, particularly in software-related patent applications, and train patent examiners on scrutinizing functional claims. The White House said it will build on the roundtables and workshops that PTO, the Department of Justice and the FTC held last year, announcing it would hold a series of “high-profile events” over the next six months aimed at outreach on patent-related issues and policy updates. PTO will also expand its Edison Scholars Program, which brings in scholars to work at the agency for six-month periods, to develop additional research on patent litigation abuse. PTO also unveiled a set of new education and outreach materials aimed at answering questions from the targets of abusive patent litigation (http://1.usa.gov/15yx9EC).
The White House announced a series of executive actions and legislative recommendations Tuesday that a senior administration official said were “specifically designed” to deal with abusive patent litigation. The White House’s actions follow the introduction of four bills in Congress -- including three in the last month -- that would address patent litigation abuse caused by patent assertion entities (PAEs). The discussion draft of a fifth bill, crafted by the House Judiciary Committee, is circulating through industry and legislative circles (CED June 3 p8).
The House Judiciary and Senate Judiciary committees ended May with four separate bills under consideration that would address a series of issues related to abusive patent litigation that the America Invents Act (AIA) was not able to address. A fifth bill is waiting in the wings. Officials from industry groups that have been pushing for the reforms told us the current versions of the bills offer great ideas and starting points for discussion, but also believe a definitive solution will require more work.
The House Judiciary and Senate Judiciary committees ended May with four separate bills under consideration that would address a series of issues related to abusive patent litigation that the America Invents Act (AIA) was not able to address. A fifth bill is waiting in the wings. Officials from industry groups that have been pushing for the reforms told us the current versions of the bills offer great ideas and starting points for discussion, but also believe a definitive solution will require more work.
The House Judiciary and Senate Judiciary committees ended May with four separate bills under consideration that would address a series of issues related to abusive patent litigation that the America Invents Act (AIA) was not able to address. A fifth bill is waiting in the wings. Officials from industry groups that have been pushing for the reforms told us the current versions of the bills offer great ideas and starting points for discussion, but also believe a definitive solution will require more work.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology hopes its second cybersecurity framework workshop will conclude with an “initial consensus” on standards to be included in the industry-developed framework, said Director Patrick Gallagher Wednesday. NIST expects participants at the event, which is being webcast and continues through Friday at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, to begin creating the initial set of standards, best practices and procedures that will be included in the voluntary framework. NIST and the Department of Homeland Security are leading development of the framework as directed by President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (WID Feb 14 p1). The participants will also begin identifying themes that cut across the different critical infrastructure sectors that are involved in the framework’s development. Participants will base their discussions on the comments NIST collected in its initial request for information, as well as a NIST analysis of those comments that identifies common themes and issues (http://1.usa.gov/10u8IYf). It’s important that the workshop result in a “best in class” initial consensus because the workshop’s output will directly affect what’s discussed at the next workshop, scheduled to run from July 10-12 at the University of California, San Diego, Gallagher said. “These workshops must build on each other.” NIST hopes the July workshop will be able to focus on selecting framework components, said Adam Sedgewick, NIST senior information technology policy advisor. A fourth workshop, to occur in September, will help finalize what’s included in the draft framework that goes public in October, he said. While there will eventually need to be a consensus on the entire framework, “not all of the discussions this week will meet with unanimous consent,” Gallagher said. A lack of consensus in some areas is fine, however, because “the framework will be better if we bring in all viewpoints” at this stage in its development, he said. NIST’s role is only to support the industry participants, not to “choose or develop particular standards or solutions,” Gallagher said. “This is your work product, not ours.”
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) approved Japan-based SoftBank’s bid to buy 70 percent ownership of Sprint Nextel, the two carriers confirmed Wednesday (http://bit.ly/117byQ5). The multi-agency committee decided there were no unresolved national security issues related to the deal, despite recent concerns voiced by lawmakers and another company competing for control of Sprint. The FCC’s review is the deal’s remaining regulatory barrier -- which Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeffrey Silva predicted will be removed “within days."
The National Institute of Standards and Technology hopes its second cybersecurity framework workshop will conclude with an “initial consensus” on standards to be included in the industry-developed framework, said Director Patrick Gallagher Wednesday. NIST expects participants at the event, which is being webcast and continues through Friday at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, to begin creating the initial set of standards, best practices and procedures that will be included in the voluntary framework. NIST and the Department of Homeland Security are leading development of the framework as directed by President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (CD Feb 14 p1). The participants will also begin identifying themes that cut across the different critical infrastructure sectors that are involved in the framework’s development. Participants will base their discussions on the comments NIST collected in its initial request for information, as well as a NIST analysis of those comments that identifies common themes and issues (http://1.usa.gov/10u8IYf). It’s important that the workshop result in a “best in class” initial consensus because the workshop’s output will directly affect what’s discussed at the next workshop, scheduled to run from July 10-12 at the University of California, San Diego, Gallagher said. “These workshops must build on each other.” NIST hopes the July workshop will be able to focus on selecting framework components, said Adam Sedgewick, NIST senior information technology policy advisor. A fourth workshop, to occur in September, will help finalize what’s included in the draft framework that goes public in October, he said. While there will eventually need to be a consensus on the entire framework, “not all of the discussions this week will meet with unanimous consent,” Gallagher said. A lack of consensus in some areas is fine, however, because “the framework will be better if we bring in all viewpoints” at this stage in its development, he said. NIST’s role is only to support the industry participants, not to “choose or develop particular standards or solutions,” Gallagher said. “This is your work product, not ours.”
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) approved Japan-based SoftBank’s bid to buy 70 percent ownership of Sprint Nextel, the two carriers confirmed Wednesday (http://bit.ly/117byQ5). The multi-agency committee decided there were no unresolved national security issues related to the deal, despite recent concerns voiced by lawmakers and another company competing for control of Sprint. The FCC’s review is the deal’s remaining regulatory barrier -- which Medley Global Advisors analyst Jeffrey Silva predicted will be removed “within days."