American Innovators Under Attack
Today, United States innovators are at a disadvantage when US companies, with strong ties to China, game our patent and court systems to engage in what can only be called intellectual property theft. American companies operate under a system designed by our Founders to protect innovation, but armies of patent attorneys working for large multinationals now exploit that same system to pilfer ideas from smaller, often more innovative, U.S. firms. While the Patent Office has taken steps to rein in abuse, the courts still allow deep-pocketed companies to drag out enforcement for years.
Recently, our company won a small but important victory in a long-running court case over the enforcement of our patents. A federal judge granted ParkerVision’s Rule 54(b) motion, allowing us to take our case against Qualcomm directly back to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit—our second visit to that court in three years. ParkerVision can now appeal a key ruling in its decade-plus effort to protect patents from a tech giant whose single largest source of revenue comes from China; a company, we believe, knowingly stole our technology more than a decade ago.
Under the American system, small innovators should get a fair shot in a tech world dominated by massive, foreign-backed conglomerates. It should not take more than a decade for U.S. innovators to receive justice.
ParkerVision began over forty years ago in Jacksonville, Florida, with a small group of engineers who believed in American innovation. Our first success was one of the world’s earliest digital thermostats—a technology so advanced that Carrier Corporation acquired it. Since then, we’ve built newsroom automation systems that won an Emmy and invested more than $300 million in wireless research. Today, our U.S.-based engineers are developing 5G and 6G technologies that can make civilian and military communications faster, stronger, and more secure. This is the kind of innovation America was built on—the kind the patent system is supposed to protect.
But the reality for small inventors today is harsh. When you create something valuable, global giants notice. And if you defend your rights, they practice “lawfare”—using lawsuits, motions, and delays until your money runs out. That’s what has happened to ParkerVision in its long dispute with Qualcomm, a company with China business ties so deep that it trained thousands of Chinese engineers and was fined by US regulators for foreign corrupt bribery in hiring Chinese officials to gain an unfair business advantage. Qualcomm’s chips handle the radio signals in nearly every smartphone. As a multinational with vast resources, Qualcomm has buried us in litigation and delay. We have waited nearly 15 years for a trial—enduring pauses while Qualcomm challenged our patents at the Patent Office, multiple incorrect lower-court rulings, and one prior appeal that fully reversed the trial court. Another reversal may now be necessary. Multiple appeals take years and cost millions. The court system must move faster and more efficiently to protect American innovators.
Qualcomm is incorporated in the United States but maintains a massive footprint in China. Many fear it serves China’s military-civil fusion strategy. According to the Foundation for American Innovation, Qualcomm aids Chinese R&D in critical emerging technologies, sells chips and invests in startups there, and operates research centers in Shanghai and Shenzhen training Chinese engineers in chip design.
In our case, a year ago the appeals court ruled that we deserved a jury trial and sent the case back. After nearly a year of waiting, the lower court reinterpreted our patents in a way we believe contradicts that decision—effectively ending much of our case. Our new appeal seeks to reopen those claims, which could restore our path toward a fair financial recovery for technology that was duly patented and, we believe, taken from us.
For anyone who’s ever built or created something, this case matters. If small inventors can’t protect their ideas promptly and affordably, they’ll stop inventing. When courts permit deep-pocketed companies to drag out enforcement, the next big breakthrough won’t be born in America. It will happen overseas, where foreign governments subsidize and copy what we create—and where countries like China, Brazil, and the EU are strengthening patent enforcement while ours stagnates.
This fight is about more than one company’s patents. It’s about whether American innovators can hold on to their inventions, create jobs, and help our nation compete globally. It also tests whether the United States will adopt an America First patent policy that protects American inventors. Every time a small U.S. innovator is pushed out, a foreign competitor grows stronger. President Trump’s call for “America First manufacturing” and homegrown innovation is vital. We can’t out-invent the world if our legal system undercuts the people doing the inventing.
Jeffrey Parker is the founder and CEO of ParkerVision, Inc., an American wireless technology company based in Jacksonville, Florida.
