This Week in Washington IP: Cybersecurity in Civil Space Operations, Coordinating Patent Data Between the USPTO and the FDA, and Innovative Ideas for Modernizing Congress

This week in Washington IP news, committee hearings at the U.S. House of Representatives focus on several topics related to technology including improvements to civil space procurement activities to promote cybersecurity in space systems, the use of facial recognition technology by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, as well as technological recommendations advanced by the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. Over in the Senate, the Judiciary Committee will debate a proposed bill that would establish an interagency task force for sharing communication on drug patents between the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Elsewhere, the Center for Strategic & International Studies explores how last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law is being leveraged to create a regional clean hydrogen hub in Houston, the Brookings Institution discusses the future of crypto regulation following the stablecoin crash, and the USPTO closes out the week with a regular quarterly meeting of the Trademark Public Advisory Committee.

Monday, July 25 

The Brookings Institution

The Future of Crypto Regulation

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

Bitcoin and alternative cryptocurrencies first broke into the mainstream’s consciousness about a decade ago but financial experts and regulators alike continue to struggle to define crypto as an asset, an investment or just a scam being perpetrated on unwitting consumers. The regulatory questions surrounding cryptocurrency have become even more urgent in recent weeks as crypto markets have been dealing with the impacts of the implosion in the value of TerraUSD and other stablecoins, or cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar or other national currencies. This event will feature a keynote discussion with Rostin Benham, Chairman, Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and moderated by Aaron Klein, Senior Fellow, Center on Regulation and Markets, The Brookings Institution. Following that conversation will be a discussion with a panel including Hillary J. Allen, Professor, American University Washington College of Law; Michael Piwowar, Executive Director, Center for Financial Markets, Milken Institute, and Former Commissioner, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Sheila Warren, CEO, Crypto Council for Innovation; and moderated by Klein.

Tuesday, July 26 

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation 

Accelerating More Equitable EV Adoption Through Technological, Business Model, and Policy Innovation

At 12:00 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

For electric vehicles (EV) to be able to make much of a positive impact in helping the nations of the world meet climate goals, EVs must be made available to the wide swath of low-income and disadvantaged consumers who typically cannot afford the first generation of new technologies. While both the private and nonprofit sectors have been developing business models that advance EV innovation while addressing high prices, policymakers have been debating the possibility that the federal government can leverage infrastructure programs and tax credits to improve EV adoption by U.S. consumers. This event, hosted by ITIF’s Center for Clean Energy Innovation, will feature a discussion surrounding a new ITIF report on the connection between equity and EV innovation with a panel including Sanya Carley, Paul H. O’Neill Professor, O’Neill School of Public Policy, Indiana University; Zach Franklin, Chief Strategy Officer, GRID Alternatives; David M. Konisky, Lynton K. Caldwell Professor, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University; Monisha Shah, Researcher IV-Policy Analysis, NREL; Kameale Terry, CEO, ChargerHelp!; Madeline Yozwiak, NSF Graduate Research Fellow, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University; and moderated by David M. Hart, Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Clean Energy Innovation, ITIF.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

Trademark Basics Boot Camp, Module 4: Application Requirements

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

This workshop, the fourth module in the USPTO’s eight-part Trademark Basics Boot Camp series, is designed to teach small business owners and entrepreneurs about basic requirements for filing an initial trademark application. Topics covered during this workshop include drawings, identification of goods and services, filing bases, and specimens and ornamentation.

Wednesday, July 27 

Senate Committee on Science, Commerce, and Transportation 

Executive Session

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

On Wednesday morning, the full Senate Commerce Committee will convene an executive session to discuss Biden Administration nominees for several posts within the Executive Branch, as well as a pair of bills that would restrict the ability of Internet companies to collect and distribute personal data from children. Those bills include S. 1628, the Children and Teens’ Online Privacy Protection Act; and S. 3663, the Kids Online Safety Act.

Center for Strategic & International Studies 

The AI-Surveillance Symbiosis in China: A Big Data China Event

At 12:00 PM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

This event, the third in the Big Data China series developed in collaboration between the CSIS Trustee Chair in Chinese Business & Economics along with Stanford University’s Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, explores the link between the Chinese government’s robust investment into surveillance technologies is proving to be a boon for China’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector. This event features a presentation on how AI surveillance tech is helping China repress dissenting opinions while also providing commercial advantage to the country’s tech sector given by Noam Yuchtman, Professor of Managerial Economics and Strategy, London School of Economics and Political Science; David Yang, Assistant Professor of Economics, Harvard University; and Ilaria Mazzocco, Fellow, Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics, CSIS. Following that presentation will be a discussion with a panel including Emily Weinstein, Research Fellow, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Georgetown University; Paul Mozur, Columnist, The New York Times; Paul Triolo, Senior Associate (Non-resident), Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics, CSIS; and moderated by Scott Kennedy, Senior Advisor and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics, CSIS.

House Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, & Operations 

Assessing CBP’s Use of Facial Recognition Technology

At 2:00 PM on Wednesday in 310 Cannon House Office Building.

Law enforcement officials working in U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been implementing facial recognition technologies in recent years that have been helping agency officials detect the actual identity of people entering the United States under a false identity. In late June, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on the use of facial recognition technology by federal agencies, finding that 18 of 24 responding agencies reported use of facial recognition systems during fiscal year 2020, and that 14 of 42 agencies with law enforcement officers have used the technology in criminal investigations. The witness panel for this hearing will include Rebecca Gambler, Director, Homeland Security and Justice, GAO; Jeramie D. Scott, Senior Counsel, Electronic Privacy Information Center; and Nicol Turner Lee, Ph.D, Director, The Center for Technology Innovation, The Brookings Institution.

Center for Strategic & International Studies 

How to Build a Hydrogen Hub: Houston

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

Among the many technology initiatives being funded through last year’s passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is H2Hubs, a program that will receive $8 million in federal funding to be used to develop a series of regional clean hydrogen hubs across the United States. This event will focus on efforts to leverage Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funding to build a clean hydrogen hub in Houston, TX, featuring a conversation between Brett Perlman, CEO, Center for Houston’s Future; and Joseph Majkut, Director, Energy Security and Climate Change Program, CSIS.

Thursday, July 28 

Senate Committee on the Judiciary 

Executive Business Meeting

At 9:00 AM on Thursday in 216 Hart Senate Office Building.

On Thursday morning, the full Senate Judiciary Committee will convene an executive business meeting to discuss a series of judicial nominations from the Biden Administration. The committee will also debate S. 4430, the Interagency Patent Coordination and Improvement Act of 2022. Introduced last month by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), this bill would amend Title 35 of U.S. Code to create an interagency task force enabling the sharing of information on approvals of patents and associated drugs or biological products between the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

House Subcommittee on Government Operations

FITARA 14.0

At 9:00 AM on Thursday in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.

This month will feature the 14th scorecard issued by the House Government Operations Subcommittee scoring the IT acquisition and procurement activities of federal agencies under the Federal Information Technology Acquisition Reform Act (FITARA), passed in 2014 to streamline IT procurement and increase acquisition powers for Chief Information Officers at various agencies. This edition of the FITARA scorecard is expected to utilize a new methodology that retires certain criteria at which federal agencies have excelled, such as FITARA’s data center optimization initiative, in order to focus on other items such as transitioning away from legacy systems like Networx. The witness panel for this hearing has yet to be announced.

House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress

What’s The Big Idea? Innovative Approaches to Fixing Congress

At 9:00 AM on Thursday in 2118 Rayburn.

Following a hearing two weeks ago regarding improvements to communications between constituents and Congressional staffers, the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress issued a list of 29 unanimous recommendations for addressing concerns raised at the hearing, including many recommendations calling for improved access to technological resources for staffers. The witness panel for this hearing will include Dr. Danielle Allen, James Bryant Conant University Professor, Harvard University; Dr. Lee Drutman, Senior Fellow, New America. Dr. Kevin Kosar, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute; the Honorable John B. Larson, Member of Congress, U.S. House of Representatives (D-CT); and Joe Mariani, Research Manager, Deloitte.

Senate Special Committee on Aging

Click Here: Accessible Federal Technology for People with Disabilities, Older Americans, and Veterans

At 10:00 AM on Thursday in 562 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Amendments to the Rehabilitation Act enacted in 1998 have required federal agencies to make accessibility improvements to electronic and information technology systems to serve American citizens with disabilities. In late June, a bipartisan coalition of Senators including Robert Casey, Jr. (D-PA) and Tim Scott (R-SC) sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the U.S. Department of Justice to prepare Congressional reports on the progress of accessibility upgrades at federal agencies in accordance with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. The witness panel for this hearing will include Eve Hill, Attorney and Partner, Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP; Anil Lewis, Executive Director for Blindness Initiatives, National Federation of the Blind; Jule Ann Lieberman, Assistive Technology Program Coordinator, TechOWL; and Ronald Holmquest, Retired and U.S. Navy Veteran.

House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics

Exploring Cyber Space: Cybersecurity Issues for Civil and Commercial Space Systems

At 10:00 AM on Thursday in 2138 Rayburn.

The federal government has increased its efforts in recent years to develop the civil space program and associated commercial space programs, which has in turn piqued the interest of lawmakers in ensuring that technological systems implemented by these programs are being developed according to the highest cybersecurity standards. In late May, the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command established an Infrastructure Asset Pre-Approval program to evaluate commercial suppliers of satellite-based systems based on their cybersecurity practices. The witness panel for this hearing will include Dr. Theresa Suloway, Space Cybersecurity Engineer, The MITRE Corporation; Matthew Scholl, Chief, Computer Security Division, Information Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology; and Brandon Bailey, Senior Project Leader, Cyber Assessments and Research Department, The Aerospace Corporation.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

PTAB Inventor Hour Webinar: Episode 10

At 12:00 PM on Thursday, online video webinar.

This workshop, the tenth episode in the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) Inventor Hour Webinar, is designed to teach those unfamiliar with the PTAB’s operations about the ex parte appeals and America Invents Act (AIA) validity trials taking place at that tribunal. This workshop features a conversation with inventor Stephen Key of inventRight and will focus on topics including prior art in ex parte appeals, an overview of motions to amend in AIA trials and a look at how administrative patent judges (APJs) prepare for ex parte appeals.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

China IP: Quarterly Legislation and Case Law Update

At 1:00 PM on Thursday, online video webinar.

This webinar is the latest quarterly update by the USPTO on developments in Chinese legislation and case law related to intellectual property including patents, trademarks, copyright, trade secrets and IP enforcement.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The Path to a Patent, Part III: Patent Searching

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

This workshop, the third in the USPTO’s eight-part Path to a Patent series, is designed to teach prospective patent applications about basic fundamentals in patent searching, including preliminary searches and the suggested Seven-Step Strategy for patent searches.

Friday, July 29

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Trademark Public Advisory Committee Quarterly Meeting

At 11:30 AM on Friday, online video webinar.

This Friday morning will see the latest quarterly meeting of the Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC), which advises the USPTO Director on various policies and practices related to the trademark side of the agency’s operations. This meeting will discuss ongoing trademark-related policy matters and operations, including administration issues and financial performance.

Image Source: Deposit Photos
Author: izanbar
Image ID: 24955805