This Week in Washington IP: Advancing Innovation Through FDA User Fees, Modernizing the Postal Service’s Delivery Fleet, and Evaluating SBIR Support of U.S. Innovation

This week in Washington IP events, committee meetings at the U.S. House of Representatives focus on oversight of the Department of Defense’s cyber activities, fleet modernization efforts at the U.S. Postal Service and the innovation funding activities that have occurred during the 40 years since the Small Business Innovation Research program was established. Over in the U.S. Senate, the Health Committee looks at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s recent agreements on medical device user fees and how those funds can support further medical innovation. Elsewhere, the Hudson Institute has a conversation with Representative Mark Green (R-TN) regarding ways to rein in Chinese IP theft, and both the Brookings Institution and the Center for Strategic & International Studies explores ways to ensure that the coming generation of AI technologies is being responsibly developed to benefit human users from all walks of life.

Tuesday, April 5

House Committee on Oversight and Reform

At 10:00 AM on Tuesday in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is in the midst of a major project to modernize its fleet of delivery vehicles and in late February, the USPS announced that it had awarded a $482 million contract to Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense to develop a fuel-efficient, electric vehicle-hybrid Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV). Then in late March, the USPS announced that it had placed a $2.98 billion order with Oshkosh Defense for 50,000 NGDVs, including more than 10,000 NGDVs that will operate as battery electric vehicles. Oversight officials in D.C. have raised concerns that the USPS may not be meeting its environmental obligations through this acquisition, even though the USPS reportedly doubled the number of electric NGDVs in its recent order than it originally planned on acquiring. The witness panel for this hearing will include Tammy L. Whitcomb, Inspector General, USPS; Victoria K. Stephen, Executive Director, Next Generation Delivery Vehicle, USPS; Jill M. Naamane, Acting Director, Physical Infrastructure Team, U.S. Government Accountability Office; and Joe Britton, Executive Director, Zero Emission Transportation Association.

Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions

At 10:00 AM on Tuesday in 430 Dirksen Senate Office Building.

In late March, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it had come to an agreement with representatives from the medical device industry to reauthorize the FDA’s medical device user fee program. This fifth reauthorization enables the FDA to collect up to $1.78 billion in user fees over the next five years, with collected fees funding resources critical to the agency’s medical device review program. The witness panel for this hearing will include Cartier Esham, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Emerging Technologies, Biotechnology Innovation Organization; David Gough, Senior Vice President, Sciences and Regulatory Affairs, Association for Accessible Medicines; Mark Leahey, President and CEO, Medical Device Manufacturers Association; and Liz Richardson, Director, Health Care Products Project, The Pew Charitable Trusts.

At 10:00 AM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

Many ethicists agree that the rising wave of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies should be built with an eye towards ensuring responsible levels of privacy, transparency, explainability and fairness. While these goals are laudable in the abstract, developing algorithms that properly address these various objectives has been very challenging for tech developers. This event, hosted by Brookings’ Center for Technology Innovation, will discuss a recent Brookings paper on responsible AI in the federal government with a panel including Elizabeth Ann Watkins, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy and Human-Computer Interaction, Princeton University; Qian Yang, Assistant Professor in Computing and Information Science, Cornell University; Meg Young, DLI Postdoctoral Fellow, Life Initiative, Cornell Tech; and moderated by Darrell M. West, Vice President and Director, Governance Studies, Senior Fellow, Center for Technology Innovation, and Douglas Dillon Chair in Governmental Studies.

Information Technology & Innovation Foundation

At 1:00 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

Among the many global impacts created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been increased pressure on the operators of key points of Internet infrastructure to either ensure that Russian entities cannot access certain networks or to aid communications in Ukraine to help civilians as well as that country’s military response to Russia. These efforts, especially where it comes to blocking Russian networks, have attempted to strike a careful balance between impeding Russia’s military capabilities while ensuring innocent Russian civilians can still access independent news outside of state-censored outlets. This event will feature a discussion with a panel including Fiona Alexander, Distinguished Policy Strategist, American University School of International Service; Farzaneh Badii, Founder, Digital Medusa; Steven Feldstein, Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict and Governance Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Mallory Knodel, Chief Technology Officer, Center for Democracy and Technology; and moderated by Daniel Castro, Vice President, ITIF, and Director, Center for Data Innovation.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

At 2:00 PM on Tuesday, online video webinar.

This workshop, the first in the USPTO’s eight-part Trademark Basics Boot Camp, is designed to teach small business owners and entrepreneurs about basic fundamentals in trademarks and trademark registration. Topics covered during this workshop include the definitions and types of trademarks, benefits of federal registration and filing applications for trademark registration with the agency.

House Subcommittee on Cyber, Innovative Technologies, and Information Systems

At 3:00 PM on Tuesday in 2118 Rayburn House Office Building.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Cyber Command is responsible for directing much of the military’s efforts to secure critical information networks, including the Joint Cyber Warfighting Architecture (JCWA) that integrates and provides interoperability among several cyber warfighting systems. In late March, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report finding that the DoD still needs to develop the metrics necessary for assessing new cyber capabilities for determining the value of those capabilities and whether they should be incorporated into the JCWA. The witness panel for this hearing will include the Honorable Dr. John F. Plumb, Incoming Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary for Defense, DoD; and General Paul M. Nakasone, U.S. Army, Commander, U.S. Cyber Command, and Director, National Security Agency.

Wednesday, April 6

House Subcommittee on Research and Technology 

At 10:00 AM on Wednesday in 2318 Rayburn.

First established in 1982, the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant funding program coordinated by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has aided many U.S. startups by making federal funds available for the development and commercialization of innovative products. In late February, the White House issued a plan on revitalizing U.S. manufacturing and securing critical supply chains that directs the SBA to host an America’s Seed Fund Start-up Expo program to connect SBIR awardees with products or services addressing supply chain challenges with additional resources for commercialization. The witness panel for this event will include J. Stephen Binkley, Ph.D., Acting Director, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy; Dr. Ben Schrag, Program Director and Policy Liaison, SBIR/STTR Program, Director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, National Science Foundation; Dr. Maryann Feldman, S.K. Heninger Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Department of Public Policy, Professor of Finance, Kenan-Flagler Business School, and Research Director, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; George Caravias, CEO, Geofabrica Inc.; and Dr. Nigel Reuel, Associate Professor, Jack R. and Carol A. Johnson Faculty Fellow, Director of Graduate Education, Iowa State University.

At 12:00 PM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

It has long been known that China does not play by international rules governing the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, authorizing the theft of patented technologies and trade secrets as well as forcing foreign entities to transfer technological assets to Chinese joint venture partners as a cost of entering the Chinese market. Last February, Representative Mark Green (R-TN) introduced a slate of legislative proposals aimed at combating China’s willingness to flout international rules. Those bills included the China Technology Transfer Control Act, which would seek to ensure that China’s military does not acquire sensitive U.S. technologies and intellectual property. This event features a discussion with Rep. Green; Eric B. Brown, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute; and moderated by Kenneth R. Weinstein, Walter P. Stern Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

At 2:00 PM on Wednesday, online video webinar.

This USPTO workshop, designed for small business owners and entrepreneurs interested in entering the Mexican market, will teach attendees about IP rights and enforcement in that Latin American country. Topics covered during this workshop include the grace period for filing patent applications in Mexico, how to accelerate prosecution of patent applications and use requirements for patents granted in Mexico.

Senate Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities

At 2:30 PM on Wednesday in 222 Russell Senate Office Building.

The ability to incorporate new technologies into U.S. military systems is a major responsibility of the U.S. Department of Defense that allows our nation’s military to keep pace with foreign rivals. In late March, the DoD announced that the agency’s Defense Acquisition University and Defense Innovation Unit have collaborated on an Immersive Commercial Acquisition Program that will train DoD technology acquisition officials on best practices for commercial procurement of new military technologies. The witness panel for this hearing will include the Honorable Heidi Shyu, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering; Dr. Stefanie Tompkins, Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; and Michael Brown, Director, Defense Innovation Unit.

Thursday, April 7

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

This workshop, the first in the USPTO’s eight-part Path to a Patent series, will teach prospective patent applicants some basic fundamentals in intellectual property rights. Topics covered during this workshop include an overview of different types of IP, a review of the patenting process from application filing to patent issuance, differences between provisional and non-provisional applications, and basic requirements for patentability.

Friday, April 8 

Center for Strategic & International Studies 

At 8:30 AM on Friday, online video webinar.

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies like machine learning and natural language processing promise to unlock a new wave of productivity that will drive economic advancement during the Fourth Industrial Revolution. However, governmental officials across the world have proposed many regulations to rein in various ways that AI technologies can be abused through programmer biases or invading citizen privacy. Keynote speakers at this event will include Brad Smith, President and Vice Chair, Microsoft Corporation; and Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO, Accenture. Following those keynote addresses will be a discussion with a panel including Gregory C. Allen, Director, Project on AI Governance and Senior Fellow, Strategic Technologies Program, CSIS; Mignon Clyburn, Former Commissioner, U.S. Federal Communications Commission; Karine Perset, Head of AI Unit and OECD.AI, Digital Economy Policy Division, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; and Helen Toner, Director of Strategy, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Georgetown University.

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office 

At 11:00 AM on Friday, online video webinar.

On Friday morning, the regular quarterly meeting of the Trademark Public Advisory Committee (TPAC), which provides public oversight of the USPTO’s trademark operations, will be convened. This meeting will include updates from USPTO trademark officials on management of trademark activities, agency financial performance, examination policy, operations, administration and activities at the Office of Policy and International Affairs and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB).

Image rights acquired through AdobeStock.