Joe Matal Authors Opinion Piece in Law360: PTAB Bill Offers Much-Needed Protection

With Congress back in session, the newly introduced Restoring the American Invents Act, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, or Leahy-Cornyn Act, deserves prompt attention.

The bill would restore reliable access to expert patent validity review at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Trial and Appeal Board, protect the integrity of PTAB proceedings against political interference, and compel coordination between PTAB reviews and infringement trials.

In doing so, the bill would protect American manufacturers against the depredations of hedge funds and other unscrupulous actors that have been exploiting recent opportunities to leverage invalid patents against America's industrial base. The Leahy-Cornyn Act deserves Congress' support.

One lesson that we have learned during the last few years' economic tumult is the importance of maintaining advanced manufacturing capacity in the U.S. Domestic manufacturing not only provides good jobs, it also ensures that our economy is not dependent on foreign nations and international events when a crisis arises. When critical components such as microchips or telecommunications equipment are available only from overseas, supply chains and entire industries can be disrupted.

Just this year, for example, American automobile manufacturers are expected to lose almost $300 billion in revenue because of a lack of access to the semiconductors that control so many of the functions on a modern car.

Excerpted from Law360. To read the full article, click here.