FEDERALhearing transcript

Congressional Hearing: Sovereign Immunity and Intellectual Property

Original title: SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY AND THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SYSTEM

January 1, 2018

sovereign immunity intellectual property patent law tribal law congressional hearings

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The Frame

What this does

The hearing examines whether allows patent holders to avoid legal challenges to their patents, which impacts the ability of competitors to contest patent validity in federal courts.

Who is mentioned in the record

Potentially affected actors named in the source documents. Mention is not a position.

St. Regis Mohawk Tribe

The tribe is involved in legal agreements where they assert sovereign immunity to protect patent rights.

Patent Holders

Entities that may use sovereign immunity agreements to defend their intellectual property from legal challenges.

What changed

Last recorded activity January 1, 2018.

What's next

Next step not available in the current record.

Summary

This document is a transcript of a 2017 House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing regarding the intersection of and the intellectual property system. The hearing focused on the practice of entities transferring patent rights to sovereign tribes to shield them from legal challenges.

Key Facts

The Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet held a hearing on November 7, 2017, regarding sovereign immunity in the IP system.
The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe declined an invitation to testify in person but submitted written testimony.
General Counsel for the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, Dale White, indicated the tribe's interest in pursuing additional sovereign immunity deals regarding patents.
The hearing included testimony from four expert witnesses: Karl Manheim, William Jay, Philip Johnson, and Christopher Mohr.
The hearing was held in the Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the core issue being discussed?

The hearing explores whether —a legal doctrine that protects sovereign entities from being sued—is being used to shield patent holders from legal challenges.

Did the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe participate?

The tribe declined to testify in person but provided written testimony that was entered into the official record.

Why It Matters

The hearing examines whether allows patent holders to avoid legal challenges to their patents, which impacts the ability of competitors to contest patent validity in federal courts.

News Coverage

No news coverage found yet. Articles are indexed twice daily.

Discoveries

Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.

policy shift90% confidence

Tribal Patent Shielding

The hearing highlights a deliberate strategy by some sovereign tribes to enter into agreements to provide immunity for patent holders.

St. Regis Mohawk Tribe

Connected Entities

personPhilip Johnson“Witness, Principal at Johnson-IP Strategy & Policy Consulting”Map →

personKarl Manheim“Witness, Professor of Law at Loyola Law School”Map →

personBob Goodlatte“Chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary”Map →

personDale White“General counsel for the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe”Map →

organizationSt. Regis Mohawk Tribe“A tribe that entered into patent-related sovereign immunity agreements”Map →

personChristopher Mohr“Witness, Vice President for Intellectual Property at Software and Information In”Map →

personDarrell Issa“Chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet”Map →

personWilliam Jay“Witness, Partner at Goodwin Procter LLP”Map →

Sources

Open source document

www.govinfo.gov

Analysis Score

0–100

Significance65
How much this matters to a regular citizen
Controversy75
Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
Entertainment40
Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
Buzz30
Current news / social attention level

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