[Infowarrior] - FTC wants to de-muck IP quagmire

[Richard Forno]

http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/34964

FTC wants to de-muck the intellectual property quagmire

By Layer 8 on Thu, 11/06/2008 - 1:34pm.

What do you get when you mix the government, the court system, company  
lawyers and Joe consumer? A serious mess that would send most people  
screaming into the night.  But the Federal Trade Commission is no such  
entity.  It wants to straighten Intellectual Property (IP) out and  
today said it will hold a series of hearings - the first in  
Washington, DC on Dec. 5 - it will use to examine IP law and the  
myriad issues surrounding it. Interested bigwigs from the tech  
industry, including Cisco, Yahoo and the Computer & Communications  
Industry Association are expected to testify along with professors,  
lawyers  and other industry players.

The patent system has experienced significant change and more changes  
are under consideration, the FTC said

"The courts and patentees are exploring the full implications of  
Supreme Court and Federal Circuit decisions on injunctive relief,  
patentability, and licensing issues. Congress has considered sweeping  
legislative patent reform, and new debates on the appropriate methods  
for calculating infringement damages have engaged the patent  
community. New business models for buying, selling and licensing  
patents have emerged and evolved since 2003. In addition, there is new  
learning regarding the operation of the patent system and its  
contribution to innovation and competition.

And the understatement of the day: The cumulative impact of these  
changes and proposed changes are poorly understood, the FTC  said.

The FTC has tried to clear things up before.  The last time in  
2002/2003 when it held 24 days of hearings that involved more than 300  
panelists, including representatives from large and small business  
firms; the independent inventor community; patent and antitrust  
organizations; and the academic community in economics and antitrust  
and patent law. In addition, the FTC said it received about 100  
written submissions. Many of the business representatives were from  
technology-intensive industries such as pharmaceuticals,  
biotechnology, computer hardware and software, and the Internet. The  
final results were contained in a 207-page report that has guided the  
agency's ruling on IP since.

According to the FTC, the hearing will consist of three panels. One  
that looks at the operation of emerging business models, aspects of  
the patent system that support those models, and industry responses.  
The discussion also will explore the implications these developing  
business models have for patent valuation and licensing. A second will  
examine recent and proposed changes in remedies law, including their  
impact on innovation and consumers, and their use of economic analysis  
in determining remedies. The third will look at legal doctrines that  
affect the value and licensing of patents, such as the recent Supreme  
Court cases on obviousness and other important rulings make the scope  
and enforcement of patents unpredictable, the FTC stated.

The FTC wants your comments too.  Such comments should be submitted  
here and must be received by February 5, 2009, and should refer to  
"Evolving IP Marketplace - P093900."