Foreign foes of the United States would be held accountable for stealing American intellectual property (IP) under a newly proposed bill in Congress.
The Protecting American Innovation and Development (PAID) Act of 2024, H.R. 8924, would require the U.S. Commerce Secretary to identify and report on foreign adversaries that use American IP related to a critical or emerging technology — including hypersonic systems, artificial intelligence, and space technology — without a license.
“We cannot allow authoritarian regimes like the Chinese Communist Party, North Korea, Russia, and Iran to get away with IP theft, steal U.S. trade secrets, and undermine our national security,” said U.S. Rep. Young Kim (R-CA), who sponsored the proposed bill on July 2.
“I’m leading the PAID Act to expose foreign adversaries illegally accessing American IP and to protect U.S. businesses’ competitiveness and our national security,” said the congresswoman, who serves as chairwoman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific.
If the PAID Act becomes law, it would allow the End-User Review Committee, which makes decisions related to export controls, to identify a foreign adversary using a patented invention or covered trade secret without a license and require the Commerce Secretary to publish a notice on these adversaries in the Federal Register.
Once enacted, the bill would also permit Americans to submit a petition requesting that the End-User Review Committee investigate and determine whether a foreign adversary is violating the law. The secretary would then be required to submit a report to Congress listing all foreign adversaries in violation of the law.
“Chinese Communist Party-controlled companies like Huawei illegally siphon off our technology and leave American tech companies high and dry,” said U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. “I’m proud to cosponsor Rep. Kim’s bill that will push back against this theft and support the ingenuity of American tech companies.”