Anti-knockoff article protection law

IEEE-USA, the IEEE's US Activities Board, has proposed to Congress that it enact a new form of “anti-knockoff” intellectual property protection for “fast-moving technology”. The new form of intellectual property, which IEEE-USA calls “article protection”, would be a form of petty patent. Inventors and companies would get the protection simply by registering an application, like a copyright registration application. The Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) would grant a three-year protection certificate without examination of the merits of the technology advance. If an unauthorized person were to copy the protected article during these three years, that “knock-off artist” would be liable for damages to the registrant. A federal court or the PTO would assess the damages, as the parties elected. The author considers these proposals