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On December 1, 2021, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) submitted a joint letter to House Committee members Chair DeLauro, Ranking Member Granger, Chair Cartwright, and Ranking Member Aderholt expressing concern regarding resources appropriated to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in FY 2022. The joint letter urged the House to pass a funding measure that reflects the intent of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to fund the USPTO at a level equal to fee collection estimates.

On November 30, 2021, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) submitted a letter to Chair Richard J. Durbin and Ranking Member Charles E. Grassley of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary in support of Katherine (Kathi) Vidal’s nomination of Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The letter outlined components of the set of criteria that AIPLA used to address the needed qualifications for an individual appointed to serve as the leader of the USPTO, concluding that Ms. Vidal possesses such qualifications.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a final rule to delay the effective date of the non-DOCX filing fee for an additional calendar year, until January 1, 2023. The fee adjustment would apply to any nonprovisional utility patent application filed under 35 U.S.C. 111, including any continuing application, that is not filed in DOCX format. The USPTO noted that this delay allows applicants additional time to adjust to filing patent applications in the new format and also enables the USPTO to conduct further testing of its systems. AIPLA was at the fore of expressing concern to the USPTO about requiring patent applications to be filed exclusively in a DOCX format, noting the potentially significant impact on its members and the system.

On November 10, 2021, AIPLA, alongside nine other entities, joined on a letter to House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal and Ranking Member Kevin Brady regarding enforcement of intellectual property rights at the border. The letter expressed concern with the flow of counterfeit goods across the United States border, calling for stronger, more effective trade enforcement and information sharing with the private sector. The letter encouraged support for pending legislation, including key provisions which will clarify CBP’s ability to share information with rights holders.

On November 10, 2021, AIPLA submitted comments to the U.S. Copyright Office pursuant to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) related to CASE Act regulations. Comments provided included support for requiring claimants to provide contact information in the initial notice form and support for charging filing fees for counterclaims. A staggered fee structure was again suggested, and support was provided for an initial notice in a form that includes information required by the statute and additional basic information. An opt-out mechanism for claimants who receive a counterclaim was not supported, and concern was expressed regarding implementation of a mechanism whereby a respondent who has opted out of a CCB proceeding can change their mind and opt back in.

On October 15, 2021, AIPLA submitted a comment letter to the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) following the Office’s request for information to assist in preparation of the Patent Eligibility Jurisprudence Study. In its comments, AIPLA addressed how the current state of patent eligibility jurisprudence in the U.S. affects patent protection in this country as compared to other jurisdictions (including instances of denial of patent protection in the U.S.), its impact on business strategies, the U.S. economy and the public as a whole. It was noted that, since 2012, Section 101 has been the most important issue facing AIPLA members and IP practitioners as they try to advise clients on how to best invest their limited resources. IP practitioners have been unable to advise clients with enough certainty about what inventions would be deemed patent eligible by patent examiners and later by the courts.

The survey examines the economic aspects of intellectual property law practice, including individual billing rates and typical charges for representative IP law services.

On September 21, 2021, AIPLA submitted comments to the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) regarding the Draft Revision to the Chinese Patent Examination Guidelines (Draft for Solicitation of Comments). AIPLA provided comments and suggestions on more than fifteen guidelines outlined in a table format for readability. With respect to patent term compensation due to unreasonable delay at the CNIPA, drug patent term extension, and open license, in addition to seeking various classifications, AIPLA submitted a number of suggestions.

On August 10, 2021, AIPLA filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case, Unicolors, Inc., v. H&M Hennes & Mauritz, L.P. (Case No. 20-915). The brief notes that the Ninth Circuit decision in the case increases the risk to copyright owners in that any erroneous legal conclusions set forth in a copyright application may have draconian repercussions, and if upheld, will likely increase the costs and burdens of copyright litigation. Two courses of action are suggested, including reversing the Ninth Circuit’s decision and recognizing the inherent power of district court judges to determine whether an allegation that a registrant has knowingly included inaccurate facts is reasonably plausible before referring a case to the Register of Copyrights.

On July 29, 2021, the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA) and the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO) submitted a joint letter to Senators Leahy, Shaheen, Tillis, and Moran expressing concern over resources appropriated to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in FY 2022. The letter asserted that it is imperative for the USPTO to receive access to all its fees, urging passage of a funding measure that reflects the intent of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to fund the USPTO at a level equal to fee collection estimates.

On July 29, 2021, AIPLA filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case, Ezaki Glico Co. v. Lotte International America Corp. (Case No. 20-1817). The brief addresses the Third Circuit’s conclusion that product design trade dress is functional, and therefore not protectable, if it is “useful.” The brief also questions the Third Circuit’s displacement of what remained of the traditional rule with principles of the separate doctrine of aesthetic functionality. Moreover, because trade dress is typically associated with ubiquitous products (especially the trade dress that is copied), it is likely that a trade dress owner would be forced to defend its trade dress in the Third Circuit under the new rule.

On July 19, 2021, AIPLA submitted comments to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) Regarding Changes to Implement Provisions of the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) of 2020. The comments addressed seven aspects of the NPRM: (1) ex parte expungement and reexamination proceedings; (2) the petition filing fee; (3) the identification of the real party in interest in a petition; (4) flexible response periods; (5) letters of protest; (6) attorney recognition; and (7) the proposed burden hours for private sector respondents.

On June 29, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to keep the doctrine of assignor estoppel, but with limits on its application. This ruling is consistent with the amicus brief filed by AIPLA on March 1, 2021.

On June 21, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and vacated the Federal Circuit decision, dividing 5-4 on the judgment in United States v. Arthrex, Inc. In this majority opinion, the Supreme Court held that the unreviewable authority wielded by Administrative Patent Judges (APJs) during inter partes review is constitutionally incompatible with their appointment by the Secretary of Commerce to an inferior office.

On June 15, 2021, AIPLA submitted a letter to the Honorable Richard J. Durbin and the Honorable Charles L. Grassley, Chair and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Committee on the Judiciary. This letter supported the nomination of Tiffany P. Cunningham, President Biden's nominee for Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. AIPLA wrote that Ms. Cunningham’s background and professional experience demonstrate that she is qualified to serve in that position, and that she would make an excellent addition to the Federal Circuit.

On June 11, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit vacated a Final Order of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), finding that 1-800 Contact’s “typical trademark settlement agreements” did not unreasonably restrain trade in violation the Section 5 of the FTC Act given the lack of direct evidence of an anticompetitive effect and the strong procompetitive justification of protecting 1-800 Contract’s trademarks. The Court of Appeals also found that it did not have sufficient experience with the type of conduct at issue to permit the abbreviated antitrust analysis favored by the Commission, applying a full-blown rule of reason analysis instead. The Court remanded the case to the Commission with instructions to dismiss it.

Last June, the Association wrote an open letter to the AIPLA community in response to the killing of George Floyd and others. This March, we again published a statement to condemn acts of violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. It is therefore with a profound sense of frustration and sadness that we must again address acts of hate.

On May 24, 2021, AIPLA submitted comments to the Director for the Office of Enrollment and Discipline at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding the proposed administrative updates to the General Requirements Bulletin (GRB). The comments made were in support of the proposal to add the common Category B categories to Category A to reflect current and anticipated patenting activity, and of the proposal to amend Category B, Options 2 and 4, to permit a combination of courses that need not be sequential. AIPLA also advised considering the addition of degrees matching emerging technical fields on a regular basis and supports the inclusion of master’s and doctoral degrees as acceptable under the requirements of Category A.

AIPLA echoes the significant concerns shared by many other intellectual property entities about the Administration’s decision to support the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s proposed waiver of IP protections for COVID-19 vaccines. AIPLA continues to support the widespread distribution of vaccines, medicines, and other measures necessary to meet the challenges of COVID-19, however, we are concerned that the waiver approach is unlikely to lead to the desired result of widespread access to high-quality vaccines produced by qualified manufacturers and will negatively impact further innovation. AIPLA believes this decision has the potential to set an unfortunate precedent going forward.

On April 26, 2021, AIPLA submitted comments to the U.S. Copyright Office on Notification of Inquiry regarding Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (“CASE”) Act Regulations. As a general matter, AIPLA believes that it is important to keep the procedures as straight forward and accessible as possible to ensure this will be a new, simple, and low-cost process to resolve small copyright claims. AIPLA encourages the Copyright Claims Board to publish standardized forms and instructions. Additionally, AIPLA is in favor of providing a Second Notice through the U.S. Postal Service. For ease of delivery, AIPLA is in favor of a Designated Agent directory. Online submission of opt-out notices should be encouraged, but a paper option is also recommended. To strike an appropriate balance of discovery, AIPLA recommends that the CCB require a standardized, initial disclosure of relevant information.