H.R.3261 - Stop Online Piracy Act

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011.  The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet Service Providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.

Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against foreign websites. They cite examples such as Google’s $500 million settlement with the Department of Justice for its role in a scheme to target U.S. consumers with ads to illegally import prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies.

Opponents say that it violates the 1st Amendment, is internet censorship, will cripple the Internet, and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech actions. Opponents have initiated a number of protest actions, including petition drives, boycotts of companies that support the legislation, and planned service blackouts by English Wikipedia and major Internet companies scheduled to coincide with the next Congressional hearing on the matter.

Some of the Organizations Supporting H.R.3261

Recording Industry Association of America
Motion Picture Association of America
National Music Publishers’ Association
Screen Actors Guild
Comcast
NBC Universal
Viacom
U. S. Chamber of Commerce
Ford Motor Company
Universal Music Group Inc.
Pfizer
Walmart
News Corporation
CBS Corporation
Nike, Inc.
Time Warner
Disney
Visa

Some of the Organizations Opposing H.R.3261

Google
Yahoo
Twitter
Facebook
Wikipedia
AOL
Grooveshark
Go Daddy
Reddit
eBay
Microsoft
LinkedIn

The Patent Office backlog has been a problematic issue in the patent prosecution process.  It typically takes 25.7 months before an Examiner sends a First Action.  At its worst, the Patent Office had a backlog of more than 764,000 applications.

The recent patent law reform (America Invents Act) hopes to reduce this backlog by increasing fees and allocating funding in an effective manner in increase efficiency.  For example, three satellite offices will be opened by September 16, 2014.

In the meanwhile, new applicants have the option of expediting prosecution on new applications for a fee.  Under the Track I Prioritized Patent Examination Program, a patent applicant can pay a $4,800 fee to process their application to completion within 12-months of entering the program.  For small entities, the fee is $2400.  For a micro-entity, the fee would be $1200, although the Patent Office must first use the authority given in the America Invents Act to set these micro-entity fees.  Typically, after a petition has been granted, a First Action is received in about 1 month (as opposed to the 25.7 months mentioned earlier).

The process is considered complete in 12-month period when a Final Office Action is received.  If the Final Office Action rejects the application, the Applicant may continue pursuing the patent by filing a Request for Continued Examination, or RCE.

Section 45 of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §1127, defines “commerce” as “all commerce which may lawfully be regulated by Congress.” Section 45 defines “use in commerce” as follows:

The term “use in commerce” means the bona fide use of a mark in the ordinary course of trade, and not made merely to reserve a right in a mark. For purposes of this Act, a mark shall be deemed to be in use in commerce–

(1) on goods when–

(A) it is placed in any manner on the goods or their containers or the displays associated therewith or on the tags or labels affixed thereto, or if the nature of the goods makes such placement impracticable, then on documents associated with the goods or their sale, and

(B) the goods are sold or transported in commerce, and

(2) on services when it is used or displayed in the sale or advertising of services and the services are rendered in commerce, or the services are rendered in more than one State or in the United States and a foreign country and the person rendering the services is engaged in commerce in connection with the services.

Pursuant to Section 901 of the Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure (TMEP), the power of the federal government to register marks comes from the commerce clause of the Constitution. Section 1 of the Trademark Act, 15 U.S.C. §1051, permits application for registration of “a trademark used in commerce” (15 U.S.C. §1051(a)) or of a trademark that a person has a bona fide intention to use in commerce (15 U.S.C. §1051(b)).  The latter can only reach registration once use in commerce has been verified by either filing an Allegation of Use during prosecution or a Statement of Use once the application has reached Allowance.