February 15, 2024
(Alexandria, Virginia) — Today, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy (CASE) released a letter from a coalition of free-market leaders and organizations urging the House Committee on Ways and Means to protect America’s innovation and competitiveness in the global marketplace by passing H.R. 3535, the “Advancing Americas Interests Act” (AAIA). The bipartisan legislation would make sure that the U.S. patent system continues to foster innovation and prevent bad actors from misusing the International Trade Commission (ITC) to line their own pockets with money from spurious patent litigation settlements.
Often called patent trolls, non-practicing patent assertion entities (PAEs) acquire low-quality patents from others and weaponize them through frivolous litigation that targets productive domestic manufacturers on baseless claims of infringement. Increasingly, patent trolls have abandoned the traditional claims process in federal court, which can award appropriate monetary damages, and instead urge the ITC to institute a Section 337 investigation. Under Section 337, the only remedy is a sweeping exclusion order that would ban the importation and sale of a product in the United States, regardless of how significant the allegedly infringed patent is to it.
CASE President Matthew Kandrach stated, “For years, patent trolls have been a scourge at the ITC. What was set up as a government agency designed to protect American companies from foreign infringement has now become a kangaroo patent court in desperate need of reform. The provisions in AAIA are desperately needed to ensure the ITC gets back to its intended mission and we urge leaders in Congress to take up the bipartisan legislation immediately.”
With a national election on the horizon, it is easy to lose sight of how susceptible government agencies are to misuse by clever operators. That is why CASE believes it is important for consumers to better understand the ITC and its ability to enact a sweeping ban on critical technology or to force an unjust settlement to line the coffers of a patent troll – either way, U.S. consumers end up paying the bill. The AAIA will r ensure that all federal agencies are rowing in the same direction, toward expanded American innovation and a stronger, more vibrant U.S. economy.
