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`Patent Quality Initiative Launched to
`Facilitate Better Patents and Fewer Disputes
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`PQI will undertake activities designed to improve the quality of patents with a focus on
`protecting the safety and reliability of critical financial infrastructure
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`For Immediate Release
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`New York, NY, October 15, 2014, Today, The Clearing House announced the formation of the
`Patent Quality Initiative (PQI), an advocacy organization that strives to improve patent quality
`within financial services and other industries. PQI will seek to promote strong patents and
`positive patent holder activities, and discourage the assertion of patents that were granted but
`are actually invalid.
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`The patent system was established by the United State Constitution more than 200 years ago
`and has been vital to our nation’s innovation success story. Unfortunately, many issued patents
`do not further that goal. Patent Quality Initiative will undertake a number of strategic programs
`that will evolve over time including making pertinent prior art more easily accessible, providing
`educational research and briefings on the patent system and evolution of technology in financial
`services, and filing amicus briefs that highlight issues critical to patent quality. PQI recently filed
`amicus briefs urging courts to streamline the assessment of whether a patent is valid.
`Additionally, to help reduce impediments to innovation, PQI will petition the United States Patent
`and Trademark Office to take a second look at patents under Inter Partes Review (IPR) that it
`believes are invalid.
`
` “Settlement costs related to invalid patents impact companies of all sizes and threaten their
`ability to invest in technologies that are actually novel and products that provide consumers new
`and innovative choices,” said Sean Reilly, General Counsel of Askeladden L.L.C., which directs
`the Patent Quality Initiative, and Senior Vice President and Associate General Counsel for The
`Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C. which is supporting PQI. “Invalid patents and bad
`patent holder behaviors can cause significant harm to the safety and reliability of critical
`financial infrastructure in the United States.”
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`Start-up companies and small businesses are particularly vulnerable because they often lack
`the money and other resources necessary to combat threats from invalid patents, and may be
`forced to leave the market completely. PQI will improve patent quality by helping to reduce bad
`patents early and make asserting questionable ones more difficult.
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`The Patent Quality Initiative, under Askeladden L.L.C., is the product of thought-leadership
`provided by The Clearing House. Established in 1853, The Clearing House is the oldest
`banking association and payments company in the United States. It is owned by the world’s
`largest commercial banks, which hold more than half of all U.S. deposits. The Clearing House
`Association L.L.C. is a nonpartisan advocacy organization representing—through regulatory
`comment letters, amicus briefs and white papers—the interests of its owner banks on a variety
`of important banking issues. Its affiliate, The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C.,
`provides payment, clearing and settlement services to its member banks and other financial
`institutions, clearing almost $2 trillion daily, which represents nearly half of the automated
`clearing-house, funds transfer, and check-image payments made in the United States. See The
`Clearing House’s web page at www.theclearinghouse.org.
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`About Patent Quality Initiative
`
`The Patent Quality Initiative (PQI) is an education, information and advocacy effort with the goal
`of improving the understanding, use and reliability of patents in financial services and other
`industries. PQI strives to promote better patents and patent holder behaviors by regularly filing
`amicus briefs, Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs) and engaging in educational activities. Please visit
`www.patentqualityinitiative.com
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`Contact:
`Sean Oblack
`The Clearing House
`+1 202.649.4600
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