The FTC (re)enters the patent reform fray The FTC (re)enters the patent reform fray
- Michael Rosen
While legislative patent reform has stalled, and as federal courts pick up the slack, a perhaps unexpected arm of the executive branch has entered the fray: the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Applying an “economically grounded analysis” to patent law, acting FTC Chairman Maureen Ohlhausen provided a “path through thickets of IP skepticism” in an important speech last month at the Hillsdale College Free Market Forum in Texas.
This isn’t the first time the FTC has insinuated itself into the patent debate. At President Obama’s request, the commission released key papers in 2011 and 2016 regarding patent abuse and proposed remedies. The agency has held roundtable discussions and launched preliminary investigations, and a 2014 legislative proposal by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) would have given it wide-ranging authority to target so-called patent trolls.
This latest foray into the debate doesn’t even mark the first time the commission under the Trump administration has asserted its views. In a February interview with the Washington Examiner, Ohlhausen urged a “very balanced” approach to reining in abuse while bolstering intellectual property rights. “We don’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg,” she told the newspaper.
But in the Hillsdale speech, which was well-researched and heavily footnoted in written form, the Trump FTC articulated its position in detail for the first time. “The Founders,” Ohlhausen reflected, “knew then what some seem to be overlooking today: strong intellectual property rights promote a vibrant economy by encouraging innovation.” But that key insight, she cautioned, is imperiled by “a movement underway to undermine U.S. patents rights.”
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https://www.aei.org/publication/the-ftc-reenters-the-patent-reform-fray/