ACT | The App Association Surveys Voters on Government Role in Fostering and Protecting Innovation

National poll indicates voters are strongly supportive of innovation, manufacturing, and efforts to free up supply chains, all of which will be helped by fair and non-discriminatory standards for licensing patents.

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Feb 01, 2022, 12:02 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, ACT | The App Association released results from a nationwide poll of registered voters to determine viewpoints on protecting innovation, the role patents play in delivering innovation, and voter expectations of how the federal government should set guidelines for patent guidelines.

According to the poll, conducted by Impact Research in January 2022, American voters:

Prioritize manufacturing

More than 80 percent of Americans (82 percent) believe supporting manufacturing in the United States should be a top or very important priority.
Making sure supply chains are working is an even higher priority, with 90 percent of American voters rating supply chains as a top or very important priority.
Supporting innovation and new technology is a top or very important priority for more than two-thirds of American voters (68 percent).

Believe standard-essential patents should be licensed to all

Nearly three-quarters of American voters (71 percent) believe it's important that manufacturers can license standard-essential patents in a way that's fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory. Voters are strongly supportive of innovation, manufacturing, and efforts to free up supply chains, all of which will be helped by fair and non-discriminatory standards for licensing patents.
Voters believe it's important for manufacturers to be able to license standard-essential patents.
While 71 percent say it's extremely / very important for manufacturers to be able to license standard-essential patents in a way that is fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory, just 23 percent say it's only somewhat or not too important.

Favor the federal government setting guidelines to protect patents

This is not a partisan issue – more than two-thirds of Democrats (74 percent), Republicans (67), and Independents (76 percent) believe this is important. Voters believe this fight affects them and want the federal government to set clear guidelines.
More than 60 percent of voters favor the federal government setting clear guidelines on what fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms are for standard-essential patents (61 percent favor / 32 percent oppose).
More than 60 percent of voters think that disagreements between innovators that rely on standards and standard-essential patent owners have an impact on the devices they use in their everyday lives (61 percent say it affects them a lot or some / 26 percent say it affects them not too much or not at all).
Voters believe these issues affect them, even though only 10 percent of voters say they know "a lot" about intellectual property rights. Innovation, manufacturing, and supply chains are critical priorities for Americans (and more important than protecting the rights of patent owners).

ACT | The App Association represents more than 5,000 app makers and connected device companies in the mobile economy. Organization members leverage the connectivity of smart devices to create innovative solutions that make our lives better. The App Association is the leading industry resource on market strategy, regulated industries, privacy, and security.

SOURCE ACT