Recorded Briefing—Marching U.S. Innovation Off a Cliff: The Case for Withdrawal of NIST’s Proposed Bayh-Dole Distortion

Media Briefing

Panelists:
The Honorable Susan G. Braden, Chief Judge (Ret.), U.S. Court of Federal Claims (moderator)

The Honorable Paul R. Michel, Chief Judge (Ret.), U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Ashlyn Roberts, National Venture Capital Associations

Brad Watts, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Innovation Policy Center

Charles Crain, National Association of Manufacturers

Description:
A framework proposed by an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce would vastly expand the federal government’s ability to “walk in” on private entities’ intellectual property rights. Our panel of experts will explain this proposal’s sweeping impact and detail its significant legal and policy flaws.

Supporting Materials:

NIST Proposal

White House Fact Sheet on New Actions to Lower Costs

National Association of Manufacturers comment

National Venture Capital Associations comment

U.S. Chamber of Commerce comment

Comment Academic Scholars, Former Federal Judges (including Chief Judges Braden and Michel), and Former Government Officials

Comment by Former Secretaries of Commerce, former heads of USPTO and NIST; Joint Comment by Association of American Universities, Association of Public Land Grant Universities, American Council of Education, American University Technology Manager, and the Association of Research Institutions; ABA Intellectual Property Section; and the Bayh-Dole Coalition

Comment by Council for Innovation Promotion

Comment by the Federal Trade Commission

Speakers' Biographies

The Honorable Susan G. Braden

Judge Braden was appointed in 2003 to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and was designated as the court's Chief Judge in 2017. Since her retirement, Judge Braden has been appointed as a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, a Fellow of the American Bar Association, and to the Board of Directors of several privately-held companies. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Antonin Scalia School of Law's Center for Intellectual Property x Innovation Policy. Judge Braden is also a member of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Patent Public Advisory Committee, and sits on WLF's Legal Policy Advisory Board.

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The Honorable Paul R. Michel

Judge Michel was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in March of 1988 by President Ronald Reagan. On December 25, 2004, he assumed the duties of Chief Judge. Judge Michel retired from the court in 2010 after having judged thousands of appeals and written over 800 opinions, approximately one-third of which were in patent cases. Prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Michel served the public as a prosecutor, Associate Deputy U.S. Attorney General, and as a counsel in the U.S. Senate. He serves on the Intellectual Property Advisory Council at the University of Akron School of Law and as an Advisory Board Member to the Antonin Scalia School of Law's Center for Intellectual Property x Innovation Policy.

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Ashlyn Roberts

Ms. Roberts is Senior Director for Government Affairs at the National Venture Capital Associations. She has experience working alongside the Department of Commerce and Small Business Administration identifying collaborative opportunities at the intersection of private, philanthropic, and public capital. Previously, as the Director of Government and Public Affairs at Prism Group, she developed and expanded a coalition of 500+ early-stage life science venture capitalists and innovators. Ashlyn also previously advised the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation on matters related to entrepreneurship, economic development, and workforce policy.

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Brad Watts

Mr. Watts is the Vice President for Patents and Innovation Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Global Innovation Policy Center (GIPC). He previously served for four and a half years as the Republican Chief Counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. As Republican Chief Counsel, he was responsible for planning and implementing Senator Thom Tillis and the Republican party's legislative portfolio on all aspects of intellectual property law. He previously served as Chief Counsel in Senator Thom Tillis' personal office.

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Charles Crain

Mr. Crain is the Vice President of Domestic Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers. In this role, he leads the association’s policy development and advocacy work on economic policy issues critical to the success of manufacturing in the United States, including tax, corporate governance, technology, health care, regulatory reform, and immigration. He previously worked on Capitol Hill for members of the Senate Finance and House Financial Services Committees and was the Director of Tax and Financial Services Policy at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.

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