HTIA Urges Director Iancu to Uphold the America In

Washington D.C., May 21, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Andrei Iancu, Director of the USPTO prepares to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, HTIA urges him to support recent advances in the U.S. patent system that have addressed long standing challenges the U.S. economy has had with invalid patents stifling innovation.  The creation of the Inter Partes Review (IPR) process by the America Invents Act, along with recent Supreme Court decisions that have clarified patent eligibility have proven to bring stability to the patent system by curbing abusive litigation and creating a more predictable environment for U.S. job creators.   John Thorne, General Counsel of HTIA stated, “Low quality patents are the sand in the gears of innovation and create uncertainty for innovators, which in turn deters R&D investment.  IPR is working as Congress intended by allowing the Patent Office to take a second look at issued patents and to correct mistakes without going through protracted battles in the court system.  This vital mechanism along with recent unanimous Supreme Court rulings, such as the Alice decision, apply to invalid patents that never should have been issued in the first place and are the primary fuel for abuse of the patent system.  Since these important reforms have taken effect, U.S. R&D spending has been at its highest level ever, U.S. venture capital funding has increased dramatically, and startup activity has been on the rise."

 The High Tech Inventors Alliance is comprised of eight technology companies: Adobe, Amazon, Cisco, Dell, Google, Intel, Oracle and Salesforce. These companies have over 447,000 employees in the United States, have invested $62.9 billion in research and development in the past year and hold a total of over 115,000 U.S. patents.

Eileen Doherty High Tech Inventors Alliance 202-295-2315 edoherty@whwg.com