A bill to promote research and development, encourage innovation, stimulate trade, and make necessary and appropriate amendments to the antitrust, patent, and copyright laws.
Title I: Short Title - Declares that this Act may be cited as the National Productivity and Innovation Act of 1983.
Title II: Joint Research and Development Ventures - Provides that no joint research and development program shall be deemed illegal per se in any action under the antitrust laws.
Limits to actual damages, interest thereon, and the cost of suit the amount that any person or State may recover in an antitrust action based on conduct that is part of such a program and that has been disclosed to the Attorney General and the Federal Trade Commission.
Authorizes any individual participating in such a program to file with the Attorney General and the Commission a notification describing the program and specifying conduct to be performed under the program. Directs the Commission to publish in the Federal Register a notice of each such notification, including a description of the participants, the program, and its objectives. Declares that material submitted as part of such notification shall be available to the public upon request, unless the Attorney General or the Commission determines that the individual who submitted the notification shows good cause for not disclosing certain material. Allows an individual to withdraw a filed notification before it is published and accompanying material is made publicly available.
Exempts actions and determinations of the Attorney General and the Commission concerning such notifications or antitrust actions or investigations from judicial review.
Title III: Intellectual Property Licensing Under the Antitrust Laws - Amends the Clayton Act to provide that agreements solely to convey rights to use, practice, or sublicense patented inventions, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, know-how, or other intellectual property shall not be deemed illegal per se in actions under the antitrust laws.
Limits to actual damages, interest thereon, and the cost of suit the amount that any person or State may recover in an antitrust action based on such an agreement.
Title IV: Patent and Copyright Misuse - Prohibits a patent or copyright owner who is entitled to relief for patent or copyright infringement from being denied relief or being deemed guilty of misuse or illegal extension of the patent right or copyright by reason of doing any of the following, unless such conduct violates the antitrust laws: (1) licensing the patent or copyright under terms that affect commerce outside the scope of its claims; (2) restricting a licensee in the sale of a patented or copyrighted product; (3) obligating a licensee to pay excessive royalties, royalties that differ from those paid by other licensees, or royalties not related to a licensee's sale of the patented or copyrighted product; (4) refusing to license a patent or copyright to any person; or (5) otherwise using the patent or copyright allegedly to suppress competition.
Title V: Process Patents - Requires a process patent to grant the patentee the right to exclude others from using or selling products produced by that process. Includes as patent infringement the unauthorized use or sale of a product of a patented process. Places the burden of proving that a product was not produced by the patented process on the defendant in a patent infringement action if the court finds that: (1) a substantial likelihood exists that the product was produced by that process; and (2) the claimant has exhausted all reasonable means of determining the process used and was unable to make such determination.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to House Committee on The Judiciary.
Referred to Subcommittee on Monopolies and Commercial Law.
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
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