Intellectual Property
SIIA seeks to promote a healthy intellectual property ecosystem, one in which quality patents provide robust incentives to invest in new technologies and copyright protection encourages the creation and dissemination of expressive works.
POLICY PRIORITIES
SIIA’s members are both users and owners of patented technology. Continued innovation depends on a healthy patent system. Due to poor patent quality and resultant litigation abuses, SIIA actively supports the inter partes review (IPR) system created by the America Invents Act, as well as existing patent eligibility standards, and has resisted efforts to make the IPR process more difficult to use.
Defending against the erosion of section 101 and the Alice decision as a bulwark against troll lawsuits
SIIA supports legislative, regulatory, and policy measures to foster responsible development and use of AI, including impact assessments, and risk-based, technology-neutral data governance frameworks.
Restoring the efficacy of the IPR process
SIIA advocates for legislative and policy efforts to restore the efficacy of the IPR process, including the Restore the America Invents Act, and opposes the Finitiv rule established by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2018. SIIA engages in amicus efforts to support members’ patent interests and other litigation to support the integrity of the patent system.
POLICY PRIORITIES - COPYRIGHT
SIIA members–many of whom are educational, science, technical, and medical publishers–rely on copyright protection and the incentives that copyright law provides to create and disseminate works. SIIA members also run platforms that require a certain degree of certainty when users put infringing works on their systems. Thus, although they have differing views about particular parts of the copyright system, on the whole they believe the substantive parts of current law are working.
Maintaining the incentives and certainty of existing copyright law
As an association representing the information industry, SIIA recognizes that the copyright law and surrounding policy needs to both encourage investment and allow for productive uses. Thus, for example, SIIA members support open access publishing, but oppose legislative or regulatory steps that would make it the only viable scientific publishing business model as destructive to both the copyright system and to a shared vision of scientific truth.
For the same reasons, SIIA supports preserving the existing balance struck by the DMCA, which provides the certainty needed to make works available in digital form and requires platforms to be responsive to copyright complaints without mandating technologies or diminishing innovation.
Modernizing the U.S. Copyright Office
The U.S. Copyright Office, which resides in the legislative branch as part of the Library of Congress, is significantly underfunded and understaffed. It is obligated to use the Library of Congress’s antiquated and inefficient information technology systems, which creates challenges for registration and licensing. SIIA works with other copyright owner groups towards legislation that would modernize the Office and give it more independence from the Library.
Recent Actions
Protecting American Innovation: Why the PREVAIL Act Raises Concerns Among Leading Industries
SIIA has join multiple industry leaders to expressed concern about the PREVAIL Act. This legislation could hinder their …
SIIA and Coalition Raises Alarm Over Proposed Patent Legislation Threatening U.S. Innovation and Economic Growth
SIIA joins other prominent American organizations to address Chairman Durbin and Ranking Member Graham regarding concerns over patent …
The Case for Right to Repair Has Not Been Made
–Chris Mohr, President, SIIA; Paul Lekas, SVP, Global Public Policy & Government Affairs, SIIA Today, the House Judiciary Committee’s …
New Patent Reform Bills Would Hurt Innovation, Create Confusion, and Increase Costs
The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) opposes the recently introduced Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2023 (PERA) …
UFPR Submits Feedback on Proposed Changes to Post-Grant Review Proceedings under the America Invents Act (AIA)
United for Patent Reform (UFPR) is a broad coalition of diverse American businesses advocating for a patent …
SIIA Statement on Twitter v Taamneh and Gonzalez v Google Supreme Court Decisions
In response to today’s Supreme Court decision on Twitter v Taamneh and Gonzalez v Google, Chris Mohr, President, Software & Information …
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