The Big Story: Startups urge PTO director to prioritize balance and inclusion
This week, over 50 startups, investors, and innovation support organizations sent a letter to congratulate Kathi Vidal on her new role as Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and to urge her to lead the agency with an eye towards the needs and experiences of the nation’s tech startups. For the startup ecosystem, the patent system can play a valuable role toward supporting innovation, but it has just as much potential to stifle progress when it isn’t working well.
The letter emphasized the importance of restoring the PTO’s focus on balance and patent quality, fostering a system where everyone can access the full scope of the Office’s work, and resources. And as detailed in the letter, that means bringing more focus to issuing only valid patents and preventing the harms low-quality patents cause. It means enhanced attention around more diverse and inclusive innovation and entrepreneurship. The PTO has taken steps in that direction, but it still must make strides to make the patent system more inclusive and expand the Office’s reach. Importantly, though, as one of the nation’s innovation-focused agencies, the PTO should also attend to the scores of non-patent mechanisms that support innovation and be part of a whole-government response that would include things like fixing inequities in federal financing and expanding innovation education. Finally, the letter also highlighted how imperative it is for the PTO to help curb the abuse of the patent system. Currently, rates of patent assertion are only climbing, and low-quality patents are opening up opportunities for expensive, frivolous litigation—costly obstacles that startups oftentimes cannot afford to combat. It’s vital that the Office ensures entrepreneurs have access to the resources they need to defend themselves.
As we’ve previously noted, Vidal has a long history of promoting diversity in the patent system and pushing opportunities for women and younger attorneys, and she has worked with both plaintiffs and defendants throughout her career. These experiences should equip her well to continue to create a better patent system that can work for all entrepreneurs, including those who have never directly interacted with the PTO but still have a vital stake in the Office’s work.
Policy Roundup:
New report highlights the value of Section 230 to small Internet platforms. A new report from the Chamber of Progress highlights the ways Section 230 protects user expression, online communities, and small Internet platforms, and it warns against reforms to Section 230 that would prolong litigation or that fail to consider the impacts they would have on small providers. As we’ve explained, Section 230 ensures that startups can host and moderate user content without having to fear ruinous lawsuits; with Section 230 in place, it can still cost a company tens of thousands of dollars to get a lawsuit over user content dismissed, but that number increases into the hundreds of thousands of dollars without Section 230. The report out this week examines cases where platforms have asserted Section 230, and concludes that small providers rely on the “procedural fast lane…because they usually cannot afford to litigate a full-blown case and may be forced to choose from unpalatable options such as paying a settlement, removing protected speech, turning over user identity information, or proceeding with a lawsuit knowing that the plaintiff has the funds to outlast them.”
Federal agencies kickstart plans for advancing equity. This week, federal agencies across the government released Equity Action Plans following more than a year of work, in response to the Biden administration’s call for “advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities through the federal government.” The plans seek to chart a whole-government path to identify and dismantle entrenched disparities in policies and institutions which unfairly deny opportunities to communities across the country. Several agencies committed to new or expanded strategies to serve underrepresented entrepreneurs, ranging from closing the digital divide to expanding export assistance to small businesses in underserved communities and improving federal contracting opportunities. Many of these plans also mirror points Engine has raised, marking promising proposals that could support U.S. startups, and we hope that policymakers use this opportunity to move towards a more inclusive startup ecosystem.
U.S., India talks could open opportunities for startups. This week, President Biden and members of his Cabinet met with their counterparts to discuss, among other things, trade in the Indo-Pacific region and between the two countries. Readouts of the meetings show the parties highlighted both the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework—the Biden Administration’s plan for multilateral trade engagement in the region—and the recently relaunched U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum as avenues for future trade discussions. In a blog this week, we explore how this engagement can help reduce barriers for startups looking to enter the Indian market.
Privacy in the spotlight as industry and policymakers gather in DC. Earlier this week, The International Association of Privacy Professionals hosted its annual privacy summit, bringing together policymakers and privacy experts across the globe. One topic of conversation was a path forward for a federal privacy bill, including a panel where congressional staff discussed progress on the two major sticking points: whether individuals can sue companies for violations of the law and whether a federal law would preempt state laws. A senior adviser to Senate Commerce Chairwoman Maria Cantwell described a “gradation” of the two issues, including a tailored private right of action and partial preemption of state laws. Also during the summit, FTC Chair Lina Khan took aim at the tech industry’s use of data and hinted at the agency’s priorities around privacy. As we’ve explained, startups across the country need the certainty and consistency of a federal privacy framework—as opposed to an ever-changing landscape of state laws or individualized enforcement actions—to launch, attract investment and users, and grow.
Startup Roundup:
#StartupsEverywhere: Westwood, Massachusetts. Scroobious is an online platform and community connecting early-stage founders to investors and partners. Their Pitch it Plan™ provides founders with unique resources and tools for success throughout the pitching process. We spoke with Founder and CEO Allison Byers on how her platform explored underrepresented founders’ challenges in the startup ecosystem, what it means to be both a mother and an entrepreneur, and how policymakers can better support the tech ecosystem.
