Hosts anniversary event featuring the law’s champions Sen. Leahy and former Rep. Smith

Washington, DC - (NewMediaWire) - September 16, 2021 - Today marks the 10th anniversary of the America Invents Act (AIA), which was shepherded into law by the then U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committee Chairmen Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Lamar Smith (R-TX), respectively. Next Wednesday, September 22nd, members of the U.S. Manufacturers Association for Development and Enterprise (US*MADE), in conjunction with the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, will co-host Sen. Leahy and former Rep. Smith at an event to celebrate this milestone. The decade of changes in patent quality and litigation trends since 2011 will be reviewed, and attendees will hear from the law’s leading sponsors about how they see the AIA’s effects on innovation.

The event will also feature an interactive panel with Harvard Business School Professor Lauren Cohen; former Acting USPTO Director and Solicitor Joe Matal; Hughes Network Systems IP Counsel Cory Myers, a US*MADE member; and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. Asst. GC for IP and Litigation Charles “Chuck” Hawkins, a member of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. The panelists will explore the impact the AIA has had on the patent system and manufacturers in America over the last decade and map out the challenges for the future.

“The America Invents Act was the most significant reform of our patent system in over 50 years and its role in improving patent quality and reducing litigation abuse cannot be overstated,” said Beau Phillips, Executive Director of US*MADE. “Inventors and innovators of every stripe owe a debt of gratitude to Senator Leahy, former Chairman Smith, and every lawmaker who in a thoughtful, entirely bipartisan way helped pass the AIA into law.”

For the first time in years, abusive patent litigation is again on the rise, according to RPX Corporation.

“It’s time for the Patent Office to renew its commitment to the AIA and follow the clear and obvious Congressional intent of the law by ending the explosion in discretionary denials the PTAB has issued over the last 24 months,” Phillips said. “Before the arbitrary and questionable imposition of the PTAB’s Fintiv and NHK rulings, American manufacturers could hire, innovate, produce products and order new machinery with confidence that bad patents could be challenged. Today, that is no longer the case. They continue to face a minefield of frivolous infringement litigation risk from non-practicing entities (NPEs), who do not manufacture or sell products or services, nor create jobs.”

Phillips added, “U.S. manufacturers, which generate about 11% of U.S. GDP and employ tens of millions of Americans, are especially hard hit by misuse of the patent system, as frequent targets of NPEs. American manufacturers deserve protection against bad patents.”

To register for US*MADE’s event celebrating the 10th anniversary of the AIA, go to https://bit.ly/3CcSTe5. For more information about abusive patent litigation and the threat to U.S. manufacturers, visit https://us-made.org/.

About US*MADE

US Manufacturers Association for Development and Enterprise (US*MADE) is specifically focused on protecting manufacturers from abusive patent litigation. Manufacturers are frequent targets of patent litigation by shell companies that produce no products or services. Job-creating manufacturers are shaken down for hefty royalty payments by plaintiffs wielding vague, low-quality patents that likely should have never been issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). To learn more, go to https://us-made.org/.

For more information, contact:

Lauren DuBois

(917) 573-2485

Lauren@US-MADE.org