This Week in Washington IP: IP Rights and the Right-To-Repair Movement, Implementing CISA’s First Strategic Plan, and the USPTO’s RFC on Robust and Reliable Patent Rights

This week in Washington IP news, both house of Congress remain quiet during regularly scheduled work periods. Elsewhere, the Hudson Institute explores the growing right-to-repair movement and potential conflicts with federal policy on intellectual property protections. The Center for Strategic & International Studies explores the first three-year strategic plan for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and how it should be implemented. Finally, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office closes the week with a webinar discussing the agency’s recent request for comments (RFC) on initiatives to support robust and reliable patent rights being issued by the agency. 

Tuesday, November 1

Brookings Institution 

Terminator on the Battlefield: Emerging and Evolving Tech in the Russia-Ukraine War

At 9:00 AM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

Six months after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, this humanitarian crisis has given many military technologists an opportunity to see if next-generation weapons systems are not only operational but effective in their design. This event will feature a discussion on the impact of weapons and military innovation with a panel including Margarita Konaev, Deputy Director of Analysis and Research Fellow, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Georgetown University; Gavin Wilde, Senior Fellow, Technology and International Affairs Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Samuel Bendett, Analyst, Russia Studies Program, Center for Naval Analyses; Tom Stefanick, Visiting Fellow, Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology; Jaclyn A. Kerr, Nonresident Fellow, Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology Initiative; and moderated by Amy J. Nelson, David M. Rubenstein Fellow, Foreign Policy, Strobe Talbott Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology.

Center for Strategic & International Studies

CISA Strategic Plan for 2023-2025: The Future of U.S. Cyber and Infrastructure Security

At 10:00 AM on Tuesday at CSIS Headquarters, 1616 Rhode Island Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036.

This year, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) revealed the agency’s first strategic plan to coordinate cyber defense for the nation’s critical infrastructure, which CISA will implement between 2023 and 2025. CISA’s strategic plan focuses on four key areas of cybersecurity including resilience and risk reduction, cyber defense, operational collaboration and agency unification of CISA’s disparate functions and workforce. This event will feature a discussion on the future of CISA with a panel including Ron Green, Executive Vice President and Chief Security Officer, Mastercard; Valerie Cofield, Chief Strategy Officer, CISA; and Grant Schneider, Senior Director of Cybersecurity Services, Venable LLP.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

National Veterans Small Business Week Lunch and Learn

At 12:00 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

This Tuesday, the USPTO’s Texas Regional Office, in partnership with the Veterans Business Outreach Center at Mississippi State University, is hosting a lunch and learn event designed for veterans and military spouses to learn the basics about securing IP rights. Forms of IP discussed at this event will include patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

Trademark Basics Boot Camp, Module 5: Application Filing Walk-Through

At 2:00 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

This workshop, the fifth in the USPTO’s eight-part Trademark Basics Boot Camp, is designed to teach entrepreneurs and small business owners about the process for filing an initial trademark application using the agency’s electronic resources. Topics covered during this workshop will include a live demonstration using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) as well as a pre-filing checklist.

Wednesday, November 2

Hudson Institute

Intellectual Property and the Right-To-Repair Movement

At 10:00 AM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

While some proponents of the right-to-repair movement note that intellectual property protections sometimes impinge on traditional freedoms, like the ability of farmers to make self-improvements to their tractors and other farm equipment, many supporters of this movement think intellectual property protections on computer code are necessarily restrictive. Legislative proposals moving forward in several states have statutory provisions that could conflict with federal IP laws, creating potential Supremacy Clause issues and threatening delicate aspects of the U.S. innovation economy. This event will feature a discussion on IP rights in the face of the right-to-repair movement with a panel including Devin Hartline, Legal Fellow, Hudson Institute; Kevin Madigan, Vice President, Legal Policy and Copyright Counsel, Copyright Alliance; and moderated by Adam Mossoff, Chair, Forum for Intellectual Property, and Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute.

Brookings Institution

The Turing Trap: A Conversation With Erik Brynjolfsson on the Promise and Perils of Human-Like AI

At 2:00 PM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

While many developers of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have applied algorithmic systems to augment or even supplant human labor in image recognition or language processing work, concerns about AI’s impact on labor markets have led some technologists to call for more applications of AI that work with human laborers instead of replacing them. This event, hosted by Brookings’ Center on Regulation and Markets, will feature a discussion on regulating AI to improve labor markets and the economy with Erik Brynjolfsson, Director, Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow, Stanford Institute for Human Centered AI; and moderated by Anton Korinek, David M. Rubenstein Fellow, Economic Studies, Center on Regulation and Markets.

Thursday, November 3

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The Path to a Patent, Part IV: Learn How to Draft a Patent Application

At 2:00 PM on Thursday, online video webinar.

This workshop, the fourth in the USPTO’s Path to a Patent series, is designed to teach prospective patent applicants about the basics of drafting a patent application prior to filing. Topics covered during this workshop include patent application formalities and common mistakes made in drafting applications. The workshop is designed for individuals with an intermediate understanding of patents.

Friday, November 4

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

Trademark Public Advisory Committee Quarterly Meeting

At 10:00 AM on Friday, online video webinar.

On Friday morning, the Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC) will convene its regular quarterly meeting to discuss the trademark-side operations of the USPTO. Topics discussed during this meeting will include financial performance of trademark operations, business priorities, and updates about labor issues involving trademark employees belonging to National Treasury Employees Union Chapters 243 and 245.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

Webinar on the Request for Comments on Initiatives to Ensure the Robustness and Reliability of Patent Rights

At 1:00 PM on Friday, online video webinar.

In early October, the USPTO issued a request for comments (RFC) seeking public input on proposed initiatives that are designed to improve the robustness and reliability of patent rights being issued by the agency. This webinar discusses the RFC process and areas in which the USPTO is seeking input including prior art searching, support for claimed subject matter, and practice related to requests for continued examination and non-statutory double patenting. Speakers at this event will include June E. Cohan, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration; and Raul Tamayo, Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Patent Legal Administration.

Image Source: Deposit Photos
Image ID: 70164627
Author: billperry