CCIA President Calls for End to Industry Warfare over Patent System

File Under: Copyright, News, 2007

Apr 27, 2007

With the debate over patent reform back in full swing, CCIA President & CEO Ed Black responded to a statement by the president of BIO.  “We understand how valuable patents are to biotechnology and pharmaceuticals,” said Black. “But instead of forcing IT into their vision of the patent system, we urge these industries to work collaboratively to design a more flexible system that can optimize innovation across all sectors of the economy.”

CCIA supports the identical bipartisan House and Senate bills introduced last week (H.R. 1908, S. 1145), both entitled the Patent Reform Act of 2007.  A hearing on H.R. 1908 was held in the House yesterday.  Patent reform legislation was introduced in the previous Congress but was stymied by inter-industry differences.  Much of this stems from the fact that unlike drug patents, products in information technology contain thousands of patentable functions and components.

Black said: “We all want the strong creative incentives and low risks that attract investors, but patent incentives and risks work differently in different operating contexts and for different business models.”  

CCIA’s full response.

CCIA’s patent rerport, Patent Reform for a Digital Economy, is available at http://www.ccianet.org/docs/patent/CCIA_WP_PatReformDigEcon.pdf