The Computer & Communications Industry Association has joined a coalition of ten other non-profit and public interest groups including The Public Patent Foundation, AARP and the Software Freedom Law Center today to file an amicus brief in a pending patent office rules case.
The brief supports the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office plans to implement new rules designed to improve patent quality and to reduce abuse of the patent system. The Tafas v. Dudas case is on appeal before a federal appeals court after a district court decided not to allow the PTO to implement proposed rules at this time.
“The patent office has a duty to protect the public interest. It should be allowed to close procedural loopholes being exploited by some patent applicants to game the system into awarding them broad, vague patents. These patents are a discredit to the process and contribute to the current crisis in the U.S. patent system,” said CCIA President & CEO Ed Black. “We need balance in intellectual property protection. Too much protection can be just as harmful as too little.”