Gov't IP hearings to cover chip, software patents

Gov't IP hearings to cover chip, software patents
By George Leopold, EE Times
February 22, 2002 (5:54 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20020221S0066

WASHINGTON — Government regulators will hold four days of public hearings next week at the University of California, Berkeley, on a range of intellectual-property (IP) issues, including hardware, software and semiconductor patents.

The hearings, sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department's antitrust division, are part of an effort to reexamine the growing tensions between intellectual-property rights and competitive technology markets. They will begin Monday (Feb. 25).

A key impetus for the hearings, U.S. officials said, is the proliferation of patent filings and awards over the last decade. Many observers worry that patent proliferation is stifling competition in electronics, biotechnology and other economically critical industries.

A Feb. 27 hearing will cover software patents and the Internet. Along with a handful of patent experts from academia and law firms, the panel includes industry execut ives from Borland Software Corp., Amazon.com and Divx Networks Inc.

A Feb. 28 panel on hardware and semiconductor patents includes executives from Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Micron Technology and Texas Instruments.

The IP hearings have prompted industry concerns that the government may be preparing to rewrite its guidelines on intellectual property. In the past, the Justice Department has issued favorable opinions on licensing issues like patent pooling.

Government officials said the concerns were unfounded. "There is no hidden agenda to these hearings," said Federal Trade Commission chief Timothy Muris.