On Friday, December 6, 2024, the Alliance of U.S. Startups and Inventors for Jobs (USIJ) submitted an amicus brief in support of ParkerVision, Inc., the petitioner in the case ParkerVision Inc. v. TCL Industries Holdings Co., Ltd., et al. USIJ argues that the Federal Circuit’s overuse use of one-word Rule 36 rulings violates due process and Congressional mandate, depriving patent owners of the explanations they are entitled to under 35 U.S.C. § 144. USIJ emphasizes that this practice disproportionately harms startups, small businesses, and inventors, whose ability to secure investment and protect innovations depends on reliable and enforceable patents.
“This issue is particularly important to USIJ and its community of startups, small companies, entrepreneurs, individual inventors and their investors, because these are the patent owners that most often become the targets of Inter Partes Review (“IPR”) and are the most troubled by the judicial “back of the hand” that Rule 36 reflects.”