Oct. 4, 2018, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement blasting the International Trade Commission for failing to punish Apple after it ruled it had stolen Qualcomm’s intellectual property:
“The protection of intellectual property is one of the most critical components of encouraging innovation and creativity in our nation. It is essential that we as a nation protect the IP rights of inventors – small and large – and that we enforce the laws to deter the theft of that property. For that reason, it was extremely disappointing to see last week’s ruling by a judge of U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) in the case brought by Qualcomm against Apple. An ITC judge ruled in favor of Qualcomm and held that Apple has infringed their intellectual property, yet refused to impose the one penalty available to the ITC – an exclusion order against the infringing technology.
“At the heart of this case is a fundamental question that could define the next century of technological advancement in this country. If we still believe in innovation in America, then we need to aggressively enforce our IP laws and force companies like Apple to live by those laws. The failure to do so will lead us to become a nation where patented technology can be stolen whenever a corporation decides it doesn’t want to pay for it anymore.
“The reasoning behind this decision is not yet public, but it’s hard to see how there is any sensible reason behind this ruling. It seems outrageous for a judge to rule that a company has stolen another company’s property but refuse to make them pay a price for it. It sends a message that anyone can get away with patent theft.
“We can only hope that when the full commission looks at this ruling, they use the power of the ITC to seriously protect property rights and impose real penalties on a company they have found infringes IP rights.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1003 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts.
###