On the current episode of Understanding IP Matters, the popular podcast series, Andrei Iancu, Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office, 2018-2021, discusses the trending topics that are impacting IP rights. They include:
- How President Trump may think of IP rights in his second term
- The current Congressional bills that will impact the patent landscape
- How the government should regulate AI
“The only way to achieve significant investment at scale in risky technologies of the future, like AI,” he tells Bruce Berman, host of the Understanding IP Matters’, “is with a robust system of laws.”
The AI industry should not be hampered by overregulation. Iancu discusses how it is especially troubling when the government tries to regulate without first understanding what exactly it’s regulating.
Iancu is Chairman of the Board of the Council for Innovation Promotion (C4IP) and co-head of Sullivan & Cromwell’s Intellectual Property and Technology Litigation Group.
Key points include:
- President Trump has a good knowledge of patents as assets, and inherently believes in property rights
- Support for the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA), which tries to address Section 101 of the Patent Code, to “ overcome, frankly, the mess that’s been made as a result of the Supreme Court cases.”
- Why promoting and Respecting Economically Vital American Innovation Leadership Act ( PREVAIL) would go a long way to fixing the loopholes in post grant proceedings and make the whole enforcement process more efficient.
- The value of Realizing Engineering, Science, and Technology Opportunities by Restoring Exclusive (RESTORE) Act, because patents are ultimately exclusionary rights and injunctions should be available where there is patent infringement
Even with the general weakening of patent rights over the last 20 years, says Iancu, he believes these rights are still “absolutely critical” to a free-market economy to ensure that we have a robust innovation system.
“The only way to achieve significant investment at scale in risky technologies of the future, like AI, is with a robust system of laws.”
Iancu believes that the path the U.S. has been on, of lessening patent rights “puts us at a tremendous disadvantage” as compared to countries that have been on the path of strengthening rights, like China… Congress needs to step up and do its job and legislate.”
To read the full written summary on IPWatchdog, go here.
Tap here to listen to the episode, Too much AI regulation threatens competition.
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NEWS: Hon. Andrei Iancu will be delivering the opening keynote at the IP Awareness Summit at Dolby Labs on April 24th in San Francisco. Discounted tickets for IP CloseUp readers are still available.
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Apple Podcasts provides a written transcript for those interested. Receive notifications of new episodes by requesting it on the platform of your choice, or by emailing us at explore@understandingip.org.
More excerpts from the “Understanding IP Matters” interview with Iancu:
The patent act of 1793 was written by Jefferson and Madison. The main section, section 101, the first substantive section of the patent code that defines our 21st century patent system in the United States, was written in the 18th century by our Founding Fathers. It’s unbelievable.
Congress has not legislated in that area in 232 years. The courts are struggling to fit 21st century technology into an 18th century statute. They can be forgiven for having trouble with this because the reality is we have modern technologies, like artificial intelligence, software code, biotechnology and the manipulation of DNA.
Image source: CIPU; understandingip.org
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