Mike Masnick,

We have a bit of common ground 🙂

This is a memo I sent to inventor activists concerning ACTA and the US Chamber. I have copied the contents of an attached letter after their pitch to me. I can email the same with the attachment if you want it. It is likely that the US Chamber got the inventor group mailing list from UIA which was recently taken over in a coup by a group of people who are not interested in inventor interests.

== My memo to the inventor community ==

See the appended documents below my reply. The US Chamber and the USTR are trying to get America’s inventors to carry their ACTA water. ACTA is being promoted using the same sleazy tactics which have been used for years to promote the Patent Deform agenda of the Coalition for Patent Piracy & Fairness and the Coalition for 21st Century Patent Deform & HARMonization.

The US Chamber has a long history of representing really big business interests to the detriment of small entities like independent inventors. They have done their best to foist Patent Deform on us and are proponents of HARMonization.

And while they claim to represent chambers across the country, the reality is that their membership is a very very small percentage of the total number of chambers because they do not represent the interests of small business which is the backbone of both local chambers and the small businesses who are the backbone of America’s competitiveness.

Adding insult to injury is the fact that much of the public’s anti inventor sentiment is driven by attempts of copyright holders, big business copyright holders to increase scope of their rights. Especially egregious have been their attempts to limit fair use such as making personal copies of content which the public has purchased.

I do not believe that stealing content is right but I also think that once someone has purchased rights that the seller should not be trying to steal their purchaser’s rights and that is what is happening. The Anti-Counterfeiting trade agreement does nothing to protect our rights, in fact it is an attempt to further erode all of our rights. Rather than supporting this all inventors should vocally oppose the trade agreement.

Also, many of the same companies trying to extend their copyrights are also stealing patent property rights from small inventors. They are large transnational corporations who whine about their rights while at the same time stomping on inventor’s rights. And every time an inventor holds them accountable they then whine about vicious mythical trolls.

There is no upside in inventors helping the US Chamber and there is considerable downside.

Obama’s Administration has either been duped or otherwise incentivized to sell out small entity inventors. The Administration has been stacked with transnational stooges of those companies pushing Patent Deform. Kappos has been working hard to create doubt about Patent Deform. He has marshaled the full force of the USPTO and used our fees to our detriment while at the same time wanting to increase fees. Whenever Kappos tells you something is good for inventors remember that he spent his career at IBM and that today IBM is a shadow of its former self. IBM floods the patent system with thousands of patent applications for minor incremental inventions to the detriment of small entities. IBM was the second large company behind Microsoft demanding Patent Deform and now their man is running the USPTO.

UIA has also fallen under Kappos’ spell, and like so many organizations which started with good intentions it appears that UIA has been willing to get in bed with both invention promoters of questionable track records and to curry favor with the likes of Kappos to all of our detriment. This is a very common fate of organizations who are co opted by people who use them to promote their own self interests. In fact this is the same issue which led the USPTO into their current crisis.

It behooves all inventors to not trust anything which either the US Chamber or Kappos has to say. They are not our friends!

Ronald J. Riley,

I am speaking only on my own behalf.
Affiliations:
President – http://www.PIAUSA.org – RJR at PIAUSA.org
Executive Director – http://www.InventorEd.org – RJR at InvEd.org
Senior Fellow – http://www.PatentPolicy.org
President – Alliance for American Innovation
Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
Washington, DC
Direct (810) 597-0194 / (202) 318-1595 – 9 am to 8 pm EST.

——————————————————————————–
From: Keeley Hozjan [mailto:khozjan@waggeneredstrom.com]
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 12:16 PM
To: RJR@InvED.org
Cc: HELP@InvEd.org
Subject: US Chamber of Commerce opportunity

Hi Mr. Riley,

My name is Keeley Hozjan, and I am writing on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce with a request and opportunity. Hopefully this email can be addressed by either you or the general help email.

We are currently working to send a letter of support (attached) from business owners around the country to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, highlighting the importance of intellectual property (IP) to business of all shapes and sizes. It expresses our support for a robust Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), particularly for small businesses.

This letter not only will help ensure the competitiveness of American business going forward, but provides an opportunity for your organization to be highlighted as one of 100 IP supporters nationwide.

You can tell Rep. Kirk that InventorEd supports an ambitious and comprehensive ACTA by signing onto this letter. To do so, please respond to this email and we will include your organization as a signatory (there is NO cost or anything like that involved with this!).

For more information on ACTA, please see below. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (425) 638-7032. I will call to follow up on this email in a few days to ensure it was received.

Best regards,

Keeley

Keeley Hozjan | Public Affairs Practice | 425.638.7032 | khozjan@waggeneredstrom.com

****

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

What is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement?

In 2006, the U.S. and several key trading partners who are committed to fighting counterfeiting and piracy began negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). This initiative aims to enhance international cooperation and establish more effective international standards for enforcing intellectual property (IP) rights.

ACTA seeks to build on existing international rules in the area of IP, in particular on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPS), and is intended to address a number of enforcement areas where participants have identified that an international legal framework does not exist or needs to strengthened.

Who is involved?

Current negotiating parties include: Australia, Canada, the European Union (European Commission, the EU Presidency, and Member States), Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland, and the U.S.

When will ACTA be Completed?

The Office of the United State Trade Representative (USTR) plans to complete ACTA by the close of 2010.

What is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Position on ACTA?:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC) supports the Administration’s efforts to conclude an ambitious and comprehensive ACTA that will result in robust enforcement of IP rights. Specifically, we believe the agreement should do the following:

· Builds upon existing international rules and norms, in particular on the TRIPS, to produce measurable improvements in the prevailing legal and enforcement frameworks for the protection of IP rights;

· Complements IP provisions of recent FTAs, especially those with Korea and Oman;

· Includes robust provisions to confront IP theft in both physical and online environments; and

· Includes an effective and credible mechanism to monitor and provide incentives to encourage parties’ compliance with obligations.

How You Can Help?

Tell Rep. Kirk that you support an ambitious and comprehensive ACTA by signing onto this letter. To do so, please send an email to Keeley Hozjan (khozjan@waggeneredstrom.com) and she will include your company as a signatory. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact her at (425) 638-7032.

Where you Can Find More Information?

For more information on ACTA, please visit USTR’s website at http://www.ustr.gov/acta

== Copy of the attached letter appended below ==

April 1, 2010

The Honorable Ron Kirk
U.S. Trade Representative
600 17th Street NW
Washington, DC 20508

Dear Ambassador Kirk:

The undersigned businesses applaud your efforts to negotiate the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and urge you to continue to work diligently toward concluding a robust agreement by the close of 2010.

Intellectual property (IP) rights have helped the United States become the world leader in innovation by encouraging businesses of all sizes to take risks and enabling them to attract investment to develop exciting new products and services. Not only has this innovation improved citizens’ lives, but the IP-intensive industries have become the backbone of the 21st century American economy, employing nearly 18 million workers, accounting for more than $5 trillion of the gross domestic product, and comprising more than 40 percent of all exports.

However, these innovative and creative sectors are under attack by sophisticated criminal networks around the world that profit from counterfeiting and piracy, at the expense of the American economy. This illicit activity threatens the sustainability of businesses of all sizes, but particularly small and medium sized businesses, which often operate on tight margins and lack the resources to effectively defend their IP rights on their own.

If the administration is to achieve its goal of spurring economic recovery through doubling exports over the next five years it is imperative to more effectively combat counterfeiting and piracy. We believe that successfully concluding an ambitious and comprehensive ACTA would be a significant step in the right direction. Specifically, we believe the agreement should:

– Recognize the contributions of small businesses to the global economy and the importance of IP rights to businesses of all sizes.

– Build upon existing international rules to produce measurable improvements in the prevailing legal and enforcement frameworks for the protection of IP rights;

– Complement IP provisions of recent free trade agreements, especially those with Korea and Oman;

– Include robust provisions to confront IP theft in both physical and online environments; and

– Include an effective and credible mechanism to monitor and provide incentives to encourage parties’ compliance with the agreement.

We thank you for your efforts on this important endeavor and firmly believe that concluding the ACTA will protect U.S. jobs, American consumers, and will stimulate the U.S. economy.

Sincerely,