newYou can listen to Fox’s news articles!
In his speech to the Congressional Joint Session, the president predicted that “our country is on the crisis of a comeback like the world has never witnessed.” This forecast is supported by the recent announcement of large-scale new private sector investments in AI infrastructure and ensuring that the US will lead the world in future industries.
But it is essential that President Donald Trump support measures to support the American intellectual property system in order to fulfill his promise that these actions suggest. It is the foundation of our innovation economy, and establishes new leadership to eradicate malicious foreign interests and guide a comeback.
To get started, you need to address the fact that legal damages for patent infringement are no longer calculated for sure. The US courts were lost from common sense assessments to undermine American innovation.
President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on March 7, 2025 at the White House’s oval office. (Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo/File Photo)
If a company is sued for patent infringement, the potential damage should be limited to the specific value of the underlying technology. Unfortunately, this narrow focus is more relaxed, with the plaintiff currently claiming a loss calculation that is far greater than the value of intellectual property.
Why should we assert the domination of industry in light of China-European ties?
Consider advanced chips that power AI technology. Each chip contains thousands of parts, many of which are covered with separate patents. If the plaintiff accuses the chip maker of patent infringement, he should be able to claim damages limited to the value that the patented invention adds to the chip value. Instead, the courts are increasingly giving damages based on the value of the overall tip.
The result is an unfairly large compensation award. In 2024, over $10 million verdicts, $50 million and $100 million patent cases have risen over the past few years. We even see the damages reach billions. Excessive damage is an unfair financial outflow for high-tech manufacturers, an array of other innovative companies that have been forced to pay more than they should.
The bloated damage resonates in legal waters. Chum attracts sharks. In this case, non-practical entities (NPEs) who do not invent devices or techniques or build or sell products will file lawsuits claiming infringement and collect patents to benefit. As patent litigation businesses attract a surge in external capital, more than half of all US patent infringement lawsuits are now launched by NPEs.
The eye-opening potential for damages has attracted the attention of litigation investors who fund legal action in exchange for financial gain. Litigation investments are large corporations, totaling over $15 billion in the US today. Patent cases have also been the biggest category of new financial commitments in recent years.
The left believes Trump’s tariffs are a declaration of war. But they are ignorant of the battlefield
NPES is an ideal investment vehicle, especially since investors are allowed to remain anonymous in many jurisdictions. When Trump’s CIA director, John Ratcliffe, considered troubles over the arrangement, mentioned the more familiar colloquial name “Patent Troll,” or “NPE by funding patent trolls.
US patent subsidies to global competitors are surged. In 2024, Chinese-based companies saw a 32% increase in US patents granted, while foreign companies are playing for advantage in a variety of cutting-edge industries. Among them, Chinese startup Deepseek has released an AI model that challenges the best American companies have to offer.
It is important to strengthen rules governing intellectual property systems so that American innovators are not further hampered by those trying to game the system.
President Trump is moving to bring a golden age to American small and medium-sized businesses
Three reforms are needed to address the root cause of this abuse. First, federal courts should reaffirm their role as gatekeeper of evidence and ensure that unreliable expert testimony will not be presented to the ju judge to inflate damages. If a ju apprentice is given bad information by the expected expert, it cannot be expected that the ju apprentice will make an accurate decision.
Second, Congress should pass the Legislator Darrell Issa’s litigation transparency law, a simple measurement of transparency that requires litigation investors to disclose their involvement in the case.
And finally, the Trump administration must strengthen the U.S. Patent Office’s Patent Trial Appeals Board (PTAB) to give innovator resources a halt and defend abuse. The PTAB, and the managed patent judges (APJs), who work there, are tasked with invalidating defective patents. Many of them are used by NPEs to force production companies.
For more information about Fox News, click here
APJ works much more efficiently than federal courts, and PTAB is funded by fees rather than taxpayers. John Squires, the new presidential candidate who leads the patent office, would be wise to allow the PTAB to continue this important work.
Right-sizing damages awards, increased judicial transparency, and strengthening patent quality reviews from the Patent Office will remove barriers to economic progress and prevent competitors from damaging the American industry. Everything should be a priority for policymakers in the coming days.
Click here to get the Fox News app
