This Week in Washington IP: Fighting the Chip Wars, FTC Regulation of Technology, and Using WIPO Center’s ADR Proceedings for SEP Disputes

This week in Washington IP news, both houses of Congress are silent as they enter scheduled work periods, but the Hudson Institute and the American Enterprise Institute host conversations with Chris Miller, the author of Chip Wars: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology. Another Hudson Institute event with Federal Trade Commission Commissioner Noah Phillips explores what the proper role is for the United States’ top antitrust enforcement agency in regulating the tech sector, while the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office hosts a presentation exploring alternative dispute resolution proceedings available at the WIPO Center for resolving disputes over standard essential patents.

Monday, October 3

Center for Strategic & International Studies 

Monitoring the Implementation of the CPTPP’s Ecommerce Chapter: Proposed Toolkit and Initial Assessment

At 9:00 PM on Monday, online video webinar.

After the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement failed to enter force when the United States withdrew from the agreement during the early days of the Trump Administration, 11 countries who were signatories to the original TPP crafted and acceded to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). This free trade agreement includes several forward-looking provisions on e-commerce, including rules prohibiting server localization and protecting source code, that have become even more important in the post-COVID-19 age, where e-commerce has become critical for many consumers across the globe. This event, which follows the release of a CSIS paper monitoring the implementation of the CPTPP among member nations, will feature a discussion with a panel including Shujiro Urata, Visiting Fellow, Asian Development Bank Institute; Jonathan McHale, Vice President, Digital Trade, CCIA; Elisabeth Bowes, First Assistant Secretary and Chief Negotiator, Regional Trade Agreements Division, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; William Alan Reinsch, Senior Advisor and Scholl Chair in International Business, CSIS; and Kati Suominen, Adjunct Fellow (Nonresident), Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program.

Tuesday, October 4

American Enterprise Institute 

The Future of Cryptocurrency Regulation

At 10:00 AM on Tuesday in AEI, Auditorium, 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036.

While cryptocurrency markets have been struggling with high levels of volatility in recent months, the crypto market offers a more diverse array of financial tools for securing funding, investment savings and supporting payment for Web 3.0 services. This AEI event brings together a collection of leaders from the cryptocurrency industry to discuss how tokenized finance can benefit consumers and potential regulatory frameworks that could be put in place by national governments. This event will feature a discussion with a panel including Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Global Policy, Circle; Thaya Knight, Senior Public Policy Manager, Coinbase; Adam Minehardt, Head of Federal Government Relations, Stellar Development Foundation; Mark Wetjen, Head of Policy and Regulatory Strategy, FTX US; and moderated by Paul H. Kupiec, Senior Fellow, AEI.

Hudson Institute 

Divestment from China’s High-Tech Industry to Protect US National Interests

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

Long seen as an underdeveloped nation, the country of China has seen a massive explosion in technological innovation in recent decades. China’s dramatic rise as a global technological power has also enabled the nation’s controlling Communist Party government to increase the strength of the surveillance state through facial recognition technologies and emotion-detecting software systems. This issue is quickly proliferating outside of China as well, with research showing that Chinese surveillance technologies for policing and public safety applications have been exported from China to more than 80 countries by the end of 2019. This event will feature a discussion on the potential of divesting international investment in Chinese companies complicit in human rights abuses with Keith Krach, Co-Founder and Chairman, Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue University; and moderated by Nury Turkel, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

Trademark Basics Boot Camp, Module 1: Fundamentals

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

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

Thursday, October 6 

Hudson Institute

How (Not) to Regulate Technology: Reflections from FTC Commissioner Phillips

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

There has been a growing appetite for pursuing antitrust regulatory enforcement in recent years, especially against market dominant Big Tech firms, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is being leveraged by the Biden Administration and Congress alike to provide that regulatory oversight. Legislation introduced last year in Congress has attempted to increase FTC powers to enforce against business activities by covered online platforms that self-preference their own goods or services over competing products. Then in August of this year, the FTC announced that it would be engaging in rulemaking to target commercial surveillance, or the profitable use of consumer data by platforms collecting that data. This event, hosted by the Hudson Institute Center for the Economics of the Internet, will feature a conversation on regulating technology between Noah Phillips, Commissioner, FTC; and moderated by Harold Furchtgott-Roth, Senior Fellow, Center for the Economics of the Internet, Hudson Institute.

American Enterprise Institute 

The Fight for the World’s Semiconductor Technology: A Conversation With Kori Schake and Chris Miller

At 10:00 AM on Thursday in AEI, Auditorium, 1789 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20036.

In Chris Miller’s recent book Chip Wars: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology, Miller traces the development of the global semiconductor industry across decades showing how, in many ways, semiconductors and microelectronics are now more valuable to the U.S. economy and national security than oil. This event will feature a discussion of the book, as well as explore activities by foreign rivals in Russia and China to improve their own domestic semiconductor industries, with the author of Chip Wars, Chris Miller, Jeane Kirkpatrick Visiting Fellow, AEI; and Kori Schake, Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies, AEI.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Standard Essential Patents (SEPs): Use of Alternative Dispute Resolution for SEP Disputes

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

This event, hosted by the USPTO in partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organization Arbitration and Mediation Center (WIPO Center), will cover the various forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms available through the WIPO Center for resolving disputes related to standard essential patent (SEP) enforcement and fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing regimes. This event will feature a presentation on ADR proceedings at the WIPO Center by Heike Wollgast, Head, IP Disputes Section, WIPO Center. Following that presentation will be a discussion with a panel including Evelyn Chen, Director, Patent Assertion & Enforcement, Ericsson; Steve Faraji, Head of Patents Vehicle/Production, AUDI; Russell E. Levine, Kirkland & Ellis LLP; and moderated by Ignacio de Castro, Director, IP Disputes and External Relations Division, WIPO Center.

Brookings Institution 

Artificial Intelligence and Upskilling

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

With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies presaging a great amount of turmoil in labor markets as AI systems begin to automate many forms of manual labor, there have been an increasing number of “upskilling” and “reskilling” initiatives designed to provide current employees with the skills necessary to stay productive. Although being driven by the private sector, informing policymakers about these initiatives can help the development of more comprehensive programs that can aid American workers through a period of technological upheaval. This event, hosted by the Brookings Center on Regulation and Markets, will feature a keynote question-and-answer session with Andrew Ng, Founder, DeepLearning.AI, Co-Founder and Chairman, Coursera, and General Partner, AI Fund; and moderated by Alberto Rossi, Professor and Director of the AI, Analytics, and Future of Work Initiative, Georgetown University. Following that Q&A will be a discussion with a panel including David Estrada, Chief Legal and Policy Officer, Nuro; Morgan Frank, Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh; Gad Levanon, Chief Economist, Burning Glass Institute; and moderated by Loni Mahanta, Nonresident Fellow, Economic Studies, Center on Regulation and Markets.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

What You Need to Sell Your Arts and Crafts Online: Seasonal Marketing

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

This workshop, part of the USPTO’s 2022 webinar series focused on e-commerce issues faced by Native American artists and craftspeople, is designed to help these artists assess their e-commerce and marketing plans to improve seasonal and holiday sales. Topics covered during this workshop include setting up “pop-up” markets through social media networks, developing and maintaining email lists, and using those lists to generate interest and promote sales.

Friday, October 7 

Hudson Institute 

Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology

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

In passing the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act this summer, Congress enacted a massive legislative package aimed at securing access to critical technologies by subsidizing chip production activities within the United States. However, an incredibly high percentage of the world’s semiconductor products will continue to come from Asian countries for the years to come and any supply chain disruptions could cause consumer as well as national security harms. This event will feature a discussion on the origins and future of the semiconductor industry with a panel including Chris Miller, Associate Professor of International History, The Fletcher School, Tufts University, and Author, Chip Wars: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology; Dan Patt, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute; and moderated by Bryan Clark, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute.

Image Source: Deposit Photos
Image ID:31525973
Copyright:sborisov