Mike Lee

I assure you, as a recovering lawyer myself, there is no context in civil discovery or otherwise in which one may define 'relevance' broadly enough to take in information regarding each and every single American who owns a telephone.

Yet regardless of how difficult it might be to define in the abstract what relevance is, don't you think we have left the station of relevance long before we get to the point of collecting metadata on potentially 300 million Americans?

I think at some point when you collect that much data on that many people--whether it is that much data on one person, that might create some problem.

We were unable to speak about this publicly because we have secret procedures being undertaken pursuant to secret law.

I do think it is worth discussing publicly, and I think it is also something that we need to consider from a constitutional standpoint.

As I understand it, the NSA's collection of metadata... is accomplished pursuant to Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act.

Okay. Will the increasing consensus within the federal courts... reduce the prevalence of patent hold-up situations?

I think I would like to start with Ms. Munck. Ms. Munck, first of all, I should tell you you are in good company. Both I and Senator Coons are the fathers of twins.

And so it requires you to take your best guess, your best guess involving not only whether in the abstract the patent right at issue is going to be upheld, but also how much it is going to cost you to litigate it, how likely the other…

Right. But under current law, that rather diminishes the efficacy, I suppose, of the treble damages provision in that you have got to show that it was a willful, knowing violation of the patent, and even then there is discretion in the…

In the small town of Alpine, Utah, where I live, we speak of little else.

Everyone who is participating in or watching this hearing can agree that cooperative industry standards are good for consumers, producers, and for the economy as a whole.

Are there ways of keeping that leverage in check? For each leverage point, is there a counterpoint?

I feel the need to ask: Is it always anticompetitive for a holder of an SEP to see an injunction or an exclusion order?

By incentivizing the investment that leads to research, development, and innovation, the government's recognition and protection of intellectual property provides an environment in which Americans can take risks, invent new products, and…

any actions that potentially limit participation in a standards development organization could be detrimental to consumers.

Companies and individuals that use patents increasingly complain of what is called the 'hold-up,' the scenario in which a holder of a standard-essential patent refuses to grant a license to use its patent or threatens to refuse to grant a…

Any conflict between these two important elements of our economy necessarily affects consumers and is a matter of real concern for this Subcommittee.

Thank you, Madam Chair, for scheduling this, and thanks to all of you for coming and providing such insightful and in-depth testimony. I appreciate it.

But once that commitment is made, you have got to stick with it.

There has to be some ability to say, no, you cannot just say, I am unwilling to license on any terms, let alone fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.

There are those who say that this is more of a theoretical problem than a real one.

A WRDA has not been authorized since 2007. A new authorization is necessary to continue approved flood control.

Proponents of the agreements have argued that the agreements can never properly be considered anti-competitive.

And it's for that very reason that the Supreme Court has tended, over the course of the last century, to lean more toward the Rule of Reason and away from per se rules of invalidity and also from presumptions of illegality.