Opinion | Patent Litigation Is a Matter of National Security

The Chips and Science Act of 2022, passed with bipartisan support and signed by President Biden in August, provides $50 billion to promote domestic semiconductor manufacturing and other initiatives intended to keep the U.S. technologically ahead of competitors and adversaries around the world. Vulnerabilities in how intellectual property disputes are adjudicated in the U.S., however, threaten to undo gains from that and other investments vital to economic and national security.

In a modern economy, the value of intellectual property exceeds the value of equipment and other tangible property for many companies. As the value of intellectual property grows, so does its attractiveness to foreign governments, criminal organizations and individual scammers. International intellectual-property theft rightly draws considerable attention as a threat to the American innovation economy. When I served as attorney general under President George W. Bush, securing intellectual property was at the forefront of our efforts to advance American competitiveness.