Quality Parts Coalition - Know the Facts




	Testimony to the USPTO About Protection of Design Patents
	Section 337 Case
	The Looming Threat: Patent Trends in the Automobile Industry
	The Solution
	Economic Benefits of Competition to Consumers

The Solution

The Quality Parts Coalition is calling on Congress to establish a “repair clause” in U.S. design patent law. The repair clause will preserve competition and protect the consumer’s right to benefit from quality, lower cost alternative replacement parts. The QPC solution specifies that the making and use of a matching exterior auto part to repair a vehicle is not an act of infringement. A similar repair doctrine has evolved through case law in the U.S. with respect to the utility patent context.

The European Union is in the process of adopting a repair clause. On November 20, 2007, the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament voted unanimously in favor of the commission-proposed legislation. In December of 2007, the European Parliament voted in favor of adopting the repair clause. The Council of Ministers is expected to address the repair clause in early to mid-2008. Adoption of this clause by the Council of Ministers will set a positive precedent for U.S. design patent law and ensure the EU as a whole joins Australia, Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the U.K. in ascribing to free competition in the replacement automotive parts market.

Click here to read the press release on this issue from the European Campaign for the Freedom of the Automotive Parts and Repair Market (ECAR).