Technology: Mired in a legal morass

Google‘s landmark deal with the U.S. government, which was announced last week and ends a two-year federal investigation, has gotten a lot of attention, primarily for the Federal Trade Commission’s conclusion that Google has not violated antitrust law. But the second component of the pact, in which Google agreed to grant rivals access to certain basic technology patents, is worth scrutiny as well, because it could have important ramifications in the ongoing intellectual property wars that have roiled the technology industry over the last several years.

Google‘s landmark deal with the U.S. government, which was announced last week and ends a two-year federal investigation, has gotten a lot of attention, primarily for the Federal Trade Commission’s conclusion that Google has not violated antitrust law. But the second component of the pact, in which Google agreed to grant rivals access to certain basic technology patents, is worth scrutiny as well, because it could have important ramifications in the ongoing intellectual property wars that have roiled the technology industry over the last several years.

Guest blog post by Deputy Commerce Secretary Rebecca BlankAmerica’s entrepreneurs, businesses, and workers are the primary source of new ideas that drive innovation. Patents, trademarks, and copyrights – the main protections in our IP system – are critical tools that help commercialize innovative, game-changing ideas, from advances in healthcare technology to improved consumer products. By creating a better environment for our private sector to capitalize those ideas, IP protections help foster the innovation and creativity that leads to a stronger economy and more jobs. Today, the U.S. Commerce Department released a comprehensive report showing that intellectual property protections have a direct and significant impact on the U.S. economy. The report, entitled “Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus,” finds that IP-intensive industries support at least 40 million jobs and contribute more than $5.06 trillion dollars to, or nearly 34.8 percent of, U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).  While IP is used in virtually every segment of the U.S. economy, our report identifies the 75 industries that use patent, copyright, or trademark protections most extensively. These “IP-intensive” industries support more than a quarter of all jobs in the United States. Twenty-seven million of those are either on payroll or under employment contracts, working directly for the IP-intensive industries, and nearly 13 million more are indirectly supported through the supply chains that service these industries. In other words, every two jobs in IP-intensive industries support an additional job elsewhere in the economy. 

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke joined Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and USPTO Director David Kappos today at the Asia-Pacific Patent Cooperation in the 21st Century Forum at the USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Va.

Finally. After years of lawsuits and untold tens of millions in legal fees, Apple, the world’s largest technology company, has agreed to cease all current patent litigation against Taiwanese hardware giant HTC, a major ally of Google, which controls Android, the world’s most ubiquitous mobile operating system. This deal, announced late Saturday night, could — I emphasize the word could — augur a new phase in the great digital intellectual property wars that have roiled the technology industry for the last decade.

Today, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) David Kappos addressed the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation, outlining how comprehensive patent reform, signed into law by President Obama two weeks ago today, impacts American innovation, American jobs and American leadership. Representing the most significant overhaul of the U.S. patent system in a generation, the America Invents Act (AIA) transforms how patents are obtained, challenged, and valued in acquisition, licensing, and litigation settlement discussions. In the centuries since the first patent examiner—Thomas Jefferson—reviewed and granted the first U.S. patent, our nation has observed sweeping revolutions in the pace of innovation—but with no comprehensive legislative adjustment in patent policy. By building out the world’s only 21st century Patent and Trademark Office, equipped to manage the demands of a globalized economy, this new law enables a better resourced USPTO to grant intellectual property rights with greater speed, greater quality, greater clarity and greater enforceability. It also advances the President’s overall strategy of deploying American innovation to build businesses and build jobs.

Secretary Locke joined U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office David Kappos, and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith on the Hill this week to celebrate the 11th anniversary of World Intellectual Property Day.

Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank and Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) David Kappos today presented patent no.