This Week in Washington IP: Nomination Hearing for Judge Koh, Modernization Efforts at the Library of Congress, and Securing the U.S. Research Enterprise

Capitol BuildingThis week in Washington IP events, in Congress, the House of Representatives holds a joint subcommittee hearing on shoring up cybersecurity in the U.S. research enterprise. Over in the Senate, the Judiciary Committee will consider the nomination of Judge Lucy Koh to sit on the Ninth Circuit, while the Rules Committee will convene for an oversight hearing on the modernization efforts underway at the Library of Congress, including the U.S. Copyright Office. Elsewhere, CSIS opens the week with a conversation with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, who has played an important role in shaping the United States’ stance on the proposed TRIPS waiver, and ITIF will explore a potential third update to the WTO’s International Trade Agreement to facilitate trade for a large number of new information technologies.

Monday, October 4

Center for Strategic & International Studies 

A Conversation with Ambassador Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative

At 10:00 AM on Monday, online video webinar.

The office of U.S. Trade Representative helps to shape the nation’s stance on various trade policies including bilateral and multilateral agreements and direct investment policy as well as negotiate trade agreements with other countries. This May, Katherine Tai, who serves as the U.S. Trade Representative for the Biden Administration, announced that the U.S. would back the India-South Africa proposal to waive certain intellectual property obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for treatments and vaccines related to COVID-19. This event will feature a presentation from USTR Tai on the Biden Administration’s stance on trade policy with China, which will be followed by a conversation between Tai and Bill Reinsch, Senior Advisor and Scholl Chair in International Business, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Tuesday, October 5

House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight

House Subcommittee on Research and Technology

Balancing Open Science and Security in the U.S. Research Enterprise

At 10:00 AM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

Federal spending on research and development (R&D) programs will increase by about $14 billion up to $171 billion for fiscal year 2022, but cybersecurity concerns are rife in R&D programs. Strategic planning for cybersecurity measures in federally-funded R&D programs is mandated by the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2014, and the latest cybersecurity plan developed under this law was released in December 2019. The witness panel for this hearing will include Dr. Maria Zuber, Co-Chair, National Science, Technology, and Security Roundtable, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and Vice President for Research and E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Candice N. Wright, Director, Science, Technology Assessment and Analytics, U.S. Government Accountability Office; Allison Lerner, Inspector General, National Science Foundation; and Dr. Xiaoxing Xi, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Physics, Temple University.

Wednesday, October 6

Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Nominations

At 10:00 AM on Wednesday in 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

On Tuesday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee will convene a full committee hearing to consider a series of judicial nominations by the Biden Administration. The first panel of the hearing will consider the nomination of Lucy Haeren Koh, currently a U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of California, to be a U.S. Circuit Judge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Koh has decided several prominent IP cases at the district court level, including her 2018 ruling that Qualcomm’s standard-essential patent (SEP) licensing activities were unlawful under antitrust law.

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

Enhancing Data Security

At 10:00 AM on Wednesday in 253 Russell Senate Office Building.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been very active on various enforcement fronts during the early months of the Biden Administration and Congress has also been moving forward on efforts to support the FTC’s broad regulatory jurisdiction. The $3.5 trillion infrastructure package working its way through the House of Representatives, for example, would include $1 billion earmarked for the FTC to set up a bureau for investigating data security and privacy issues. The witness panel for this hearing will include James E. Lee, Chief Operating Officer, Identity Theft Resource Center; Jessica Rich, Of Counsel, Kelley Drye, and Former Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, FTC; Edward W. Felten, Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs, Princeton University, and Former Chief Technologist, FTC; and Kate Tummarello, Executive Director, Engine.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Trademark Basics Boot Camp, Module 1: Fundamentals

At 2:00 PM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

This workshop, the first in the USPTO’s eight-part Trademark Basics Boot Camp, is designed to teach the fundamentals of trademarks to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Topics covered during this workshop include benefits of federal registration, selecting a trademark and types of trademarks available for registration.

Senate Committee on Rules & Administration

Oversight of Library of Congress Modernization Efforts

At 3:00 PM on Wednesday in 301 Russell.

The Library of Congress, which includes the U.S. Copyright Office within its operations, has been undergoing a major modernization effort in recent years. This July, the Copyright Office announced the membership of the newly established Copyright Public Modernization Committee (CPMC) to facilitate the Office’s modernization efforts including the development of the new Enterprise Copyright System for digitizing registration, recordation and other Office activities. The witness panel for this hearing has yet to be announced.

Center for Strategic & International Studies

Beyond 5G: Standards for Sixth Generation Networks

At 3:00 PM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

While much of the world still awaits the rollout of 5G mobile networks, research and development for sixth generation (6G) networks has already gotten underway in certain corners of the globe. Standards-setting organizations (SSOs) will be working to develop a 6G standard capable of providing even lower latency and higher download speeds than those envisioned in 5G networks, which are already expected to provide great support for the growing Internet of Things (IoT). This event will feature a discussion with a panel including Micaela Giuhat, Director of 5G Policy and External Engagements, Microsoft; Travis Russell, Director of Cyber Security, Oracle Communications; Susie Armstrong, Senior Vice President of Engineering, Qualcomm; and moderated by James Andrew Lewis, Senior Vice President and Director, Strategic Technologies Program, CSIS.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Intellectual Property 101

At 3:00 PM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

This workshop is designed for beginners who have limited knowledge about basic intellectual property rights like patents, copyrights and trademarks. Topics covered in this workshop include activities of the USPTO, overviews of different IP types and how to start protecting IP.

Thursday, October 7

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

Pursuing an ITA-3 to Bolster Global Economic Growth and Opportunity

At 10:30 AM on Thursday, online video webinar.

The first two iterations of the International Trade Agreement (ITA) administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO) has proven to be very successful in expanding global trade for information and communications technology (ICT) like semiconductors. However, since the ITA was expanded in 2015, semiconductors and ICTs are being incorporated into a much wider swath of the industrial world, leading to calls to expand the ITA once again to incorporate an additional 250 products under the international trade agreement. This event, co-hosted by ITIF and the Semiconductor Industry Association, will include a presentation on a potential ITA-3 expansion by Stephen Ezell, Vice President, Global Innovation Policy, ITIF. Following that presentation will be a discussion with a panel including Devi Keller, Director of Government Relations, Texas Instruments; Jun Nakaya, Chairperson, Trade Policy Committee, Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association; Magnus Nordéus, Corporate Head of Trade Compliance, Ericsson Group; and moderated by John Neuffer, President and CEO, Semiconductor Industry Association.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

The Path to a Patent, Part I: IP Basics

At 2:00 PM on Thursday, online video webinar.

This workshop, the first in the USPTO’s eight-part The Patent to a Patent series, focuses on the basics of IP and patent rights. Topics covered in this workshop include a brief overview of different types of IP, patentability requirements, provisional and non-provisional patent applications, cost-benefit analyses for hiring patent attorneys and a review of the patenting process from invention through patent issuance.

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