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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Licensing Executives Society (U.S.A. and Canada), Inc.
Urges Trump Administration to Revive Intellectual Property Protection
WASHINGTON, January 17, 2017 - On January 13, 2017 in a letter to the incoming Trump Administration, The Licensing Executives Society, USA and Canada (LES) offered recommendations for reviving intellectual property protection to improve a once robust but now diminished patent system.
In the letter, addressed to Mr. Wilbur Louis Ross, Jr., Secretary of Commerce nominee and Professor Peter Navarro, soon to be Chair of the White House National Trade Council, LES recommends certain qualifications for the next USPTO Director. LES recommends strong legal and executive leadership, a commitment to quality IP procurement, experience in monetization and/or enforcement, and a commitment to ensure respect of all global IP obligations.
LES next recommends the Administration work with Congress on legislation that restores public faith and confidence in patents, including restoring the broad historical definition of patent eligibility, reinstating the exclusive right inherent in the patent grant, and modifying the USPTO post-grant review processes to afford greater confidence in the patent grant.
LES also urges the Administration work to protect public-private sector R&D partnerships made possible under the Bayh-Dole law. LES urges the incoming Administration to restore high level Commerce Department oversight of implementation of the Bayh-Dole law to ensure compliance by all federal agencies funding external research while resisting misuse of Bayh-Dole to create a compulsory licensing regime.
LES asserts that historically, the US system of IP protection has fueled innovation and job creation, but notes that recent changes have compromised the effectiveness of the U.S. system for IP protection. LES advocates restoring our IP system to a place of prominence, thus enabling the public's enjoyment of its full effect as the powerful economic engine that it once was.
LES is the leading professional society devoted to the licensing of intellectual property. It is a non-profit, non-partisan, professional society of 3,000 business executives and lawyers engaged in education, certification, standards setting, and professional networking. LES is dedicated to improving the human condition by encouraging innovation, promoting business development, and strengthening economies.
Join LES to discuss IP Policy at the upcoming LES 2017 Spring Meeting which will take place in Washington, D.C. on May 9-11 entitled "Stronger Economies Through Licensing: Is IP Policy Making or Breaking Your Deals?"
To read the full letter, click here.
For more information about LES, visit www.lesusacanada.org.
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About LES (USA & Canada):
Established in 1965, LES (USA & Canada) is a professional society of nearly 3,000 members engaged in the creation, commercial development, and orderly transfer of intellectual property. LES members include business executives, lawyers, accountants, consultants, and scientists and engineers; and those members represent innovation-oriented enterprises of all sizes, professional services firms, universities, and government labs. LES is a member society of the Licensing Executives Society International, Inc. (LESI), which has more than 10,000 members worldwide among 32 sister societies representing 90 countries.
Media Contact:
Monique dela Cruz
Communications Manager
mdelacruz@les.org
(703) 234-4062
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