APLU-CGA Update

CGA NEWS

(12-6-13)

To:       CGA

From:   A۰P۰L۰U Congressional and Governmental Affairs Staff

• Next Week’s White House Summit on College Pipeline - POSTPONED
• Follow-up on House Passage of Innovation Act, H.R. 3309
• TRANSFER Act Approved by House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
• Join Google Hangout on Dec 11 on the Outlook for Federal Funding of Science

• Next Week’s White House Summit on College Pipeline – POSTPONED

For those with Presidents or Chancellors expected to attend the December 11^th White House summit on the college pipeline, we have learned due to the President and First Lady’s planned travel to South Africa in light of the passing of Nelson Mandela, the college pipeline event has been postponed until a yet undetermined date in January.  

• Follow-up on House Passage of Innovation Act, H.R. 3309

The House approved the Innovation Act (H.R. 3309) yesterday by a vote of 325-91. The higher education associations have been told by House staff that we made an impact. We greatly appreciate all you have done to weigh in with your representatives on H.R. 3309. We must now turn our focus to the Senate and its version of the legislation – S.1720, The Patent Transparency and Improvements Act. 

We understand that the Senate Judiciary Committee may consider S. 1720 before the holiday recess, and it is crucial that we reach out to their offices right away. The higher education associations that have been working on patent reform are developing a position statement on S. 1720 and will send it to the community soon. In the meantime, we urge the CGA to contact their Senators to express our concerns with H.R. 3309 as passed. It is important that all 100 Senators be informed of our concerns with House bill.

Below, you will find a brief summary of the amendments to H.R. 3309 that were voted on yesterday and the vote totals:

KEY AMENDMENTS

Watt amendment (#2); Failed by recorded vote: 199 - 213 (Roll no. 624).

§  Bring the fee shifting provision in the underlying bill more closely aligned with the Equal Access to Justice Act. Allows a judge to consider dilatory or other abusive tactics by the prevailing party in determining whether to reduce or deny a fee award.

Massie amendment (#4); Failed by recorded vote: 119 - 296 (Roll no. 625).

§  To strike section 5, the "Customer-suit exception" provision.

Rohrabacher amendment (#7); Agreed to by recorded vote: 260 - 156 (Roll no. 627).

§  To strike 9(a) from the bill and reorder the remaining subsections of Section 9.

Conyers amendment (#8); Failed by recorded vote: 157 - 258 (Roll no. 628).

• To promote transparency in patent ownership; protects customers who are targeted in infringement suits; directs the PTO to develop educational resources for small businesses; instructs the PTO and others to prepare reports on several issues including the use of deceptive demand letters.

OTHER AMENDMENTS

Goodlatte amendment (#1); Agreed to by recorded vote: 341 - 73 (Roll no. 623).

·         Makes a few technical and clarifying changes. Specifically, under Section 3(d), it clarifies that the exception in paragraph one applies to biosimilars, it also adds an exception for actions seeking relief based on competitive harm, and ensures that the provision is not subject to reverse gamesmanship. Under Section 6(d) it makes clarifying changes that ensure that foreign courts cannot terminate licenses to US IP. Extends time required by the agencies to complete the various studies and reports required in the bill.

Polis amendment (#3); Agreed to by voice vote

• To require claimants to provide additional disclosure information in any pre-suit notification to establish a willful infringement claim.

Jackson Lee amendment (#5); Failed by recorded vote: 144 - 266 (Roll no. 626).

• To expand covered customer definition to all small businesses so long as their annual revenue does not exceed $25 million.

Jackson Lee amendment (#6); Agreed to by voice vote

• To require the Director to conduct a study regarding the economic impact of the changes in current law resulting from Sections 3, 4, and 5 of the bill on the ability of individuals and small businesses owned by women, veterans, and minorities to assert, secure, and vindicate their constitutionally guaranteed exclusive right to their inventions and discoveries.

If you have any questions, please contact Jim Woodell at jwoodell@aplu.org or Jim Turner at jturner@aplu.org.

Again, thank you for all of your efforts on H.R. 3309.

• TRANSFER Act Approved by House Science, Space, and Technology Committee

The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee yesterday approved the TRANSFER Act (HR 2981) with bipartisan support. Thank you to CGA for reaching out to Members and voicing our support for this legislation. Attached is the Manager’s Amendment that was approved yesterday.

The TRANSFER Act accelerates the transition of technology developed at universities, federal laboratories and non-profit research institutions to the private sector.  The bill builds upon the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program by creating grant opportunities for proof-of-concept research and other innovative technology transfer activities at universities, research institutes and federal laboratories to accelerate the commercialization of federally-funded research and technologies.

We will continue to update CGA as the bill moves through Congress, and will ask for support on targeted advocacy in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, please contact Jim Woodell (jwoodell@aplu.org) with any questions.

• Join Google Hangout on Dec 11 on the Outlook for Federal Funding of Science

Join colleagues in a Google Hangout discussion about the current and future outlook for federal funding of science organized by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) on December 11 stream live at 12:00 pm EST.

Tweet your questions with #ScienceIsEssential or leave them on the Google Hangout On Air event page, where the event will stream live at 12:00 pm EST/9:00 am PST on December 11, 2013.

Participants:

• Abby Benson, Assistant Vice President for Research and Federal Relations at the University of Colorado (and fellow CGAer)
• Benjamin Corb, Director of Public Affairs at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Kei Koizumi, Assistant Director for Federal Research and Development at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
• Lexi Shultz, Public Affairs Director at the American Geophysical Union

Event info: http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2013/events/2014-a-funding-odyssey/

Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU)

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