For Immediate Release
February 9, 2006

Contact: Will Rodger
+1 202-783-0070 ext. 105

The Supreme Court must rein in a special appeals court with nearly exclusive jurisdiction over patent cases, the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) argued in a “friend-of-the-court” brief yesterday.

CCIA is the parent organization of the Open Source and Industry Alliance (OSAIA).

The Appeals Court for the Federal Corcuit, CCIA told the court, has become a “booster of its own specialty,” harming innovation and increaseing litigation as a consequence.

CCIA's latest brief argues that the Federal Circuit erred when it ruled that plaintiffs need not prove patent infrignement before obtaining injunctions blocking the use of their patents.

This decision, CCIA said, was o ne example of the larger problem represented by the Federal Circuit''s unsupervised expansion of patent law.

The Federal Circuit “has made patents more potent, easier to get and assert, and available for an unlimited rang of subject matter,” CCIA told the court. CCIA continues to criticize these practices for setting the patent system o n an inflationary spiral that fosters litigation and undermines innovation.

Read the brief here:

Last night's filing follows a September brief in which CCIA and others urged the Supreme Court to hear arguments on a ruling that barred eBay from using a fixed price purchase feature patented by MercExchange LLC. The Court agreed to hear the case in late November.

For more information on the filing, contact:

Matt Schruers
+1 202-783-0070, ext. 109

Brian Kahin
+1 202-783-0070, ext. 101

ABOUT CCIA

OSAIA, (www.osaia.org) a project of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (www.ccianet.org), represents the interests of open-source developers and users around the world. Members include many of the world’s most prominent open-source companies and organizations, all of which support the right to use, develop, modify and share open source software.

CCIA (www.ccianet.org) is an international, nonprofit association of computer and communications industry firms, representing a broad cross section of the industry. CCIA is dedicated to preserving full, free and open competition throughout its industry. CCIA members employ more than 600,000 workers and generate annual revenues in excess of $200 billion.