Innovation in the information technology (IT) industry is the driving force behind the nation’s unprecedented economic and productivity growth. For technology innovation to continue, independent software developers and smaller IT businesses must be able to protect and monetize their intellectual property (IP) assets. Today’s global marketplace can multiply these productivity benefits, but only if intellectual property protections – particularly patents — are available and respected throughout the world.

The Need for IP Protection in the Current Business Climate

  • The pace of technological change in the IT industry is rapid and constant. To have any hope of a return on investment, software developers must be able to build global markets quickly and leverage their innovations across multiple platforms and devices.
  • Because technical information must be shared to build partnerships, advance technology standards and promote interoperability, businesses cannot effectively rely on trade secrets to protect their software innovations. Copyright protection also has its limits in this modern environment –copyrights cannot protect the “idea” underlying an invention, only the expression of that idea, such as code written to implement a particular functionality. Patent protection overcomes these limits, and facilitates the early and open disclosure of technological innovations. By doing so, patents support and promote this modern environment of “sharing,” and is increasingly important for many companies in the IT sector.
  • IT business partners often simultaneously compete and cooperate. For technology to progress, these partners must be able to efficiently communicate ownership interests in existing products and work constructively on new ones.
  • IT’s dynamic business environment requires the patent process to be accessible, efficient and affordable for everyone, including individuals and small firms.

Global Policy Recommendations for IP and Software Patents

The Association for Competitive Technology urges Congress, the courts, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and world governments to:

  • Recognize that comprehensive patent protection is vital to innovation and investment in the IT industry.

  • Ensure that the patent system is accessible and affordable for smaller IT firms and independent software developers.

  • Promote confidence in the patent system by ensuring that patent offices have the resources to train and retain skilled examiners, particularly in the software and other high-technology sectors, and that search authorities have access to up-to-date “prior art,” databases in Europe, Japan, and the U.S.

  • End diversion of patent fees to purposes that do not support the operations of the USPTO.

  • Permit the filing of amicus briefs in patent infringement cases and encourage the appointment of special masters with relevant technical and industry experience.

  • Encourage trading partners to establish and enforce IP protection, including patent protection for all innovations that meet the recognized standards of novelty, usefulness and non-obviousness.

  • Discourage trading partners from erecting protectionist barriers by favoring local production, particular licensing schemes, methods of development or other discriminatory criteria in their software procurement policies.

  • Maintain the balance struck in the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which protects digital content while preserving the ability of technology companies to innovate.

  • Preserve the balance reflected in the current legal doctrine of “fair use.”

  • Oppose government-imposed technology mandates, an approach which simply cannot keep up with technology innovation and changing consumer demands.