Questions for Senator Thom Tillis

• Author: Kira M. Alvarez
• Pages: 5-6

Published in Landslide® magazine, Volume 13, Number 1, a publication of the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law (ABA-IPL), ©2020 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.

This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

Questions for

Senator Thom Tillis

A conversation with Kira M. Alvarez

Image: GettyImages

Senator Thom Tillis is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Com-

mittee Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. In addition to the

Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Tillis serves on the Senate

Armed Services Committee, the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and

the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.

Before going into public service, Senator Tillis had a 22-year

career in technology management consulting at Pricewater-

houseCoopers and IBM. This experience provided Senator Tillis

with a deep understanding of policy making and analyzing com-

plex issues and is the basis for his approach to legislating.

Senator Tillis’s rst involvement in public service was

serving as the president of the parent-teacher association at

his daughter’s high school. He then served as a member of

the Town of Cornelius Board of Commissioners. In 2006, he

was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives.

In 2011, Senator Tillis was selected by his peers to serve as

Speaker of the House. He served in this position until 2014,

when he was elected to the United States Senate.

As a senator, he is focused on nding pragmatic solutions

and delivering results for North Carolinians. He brings the

same approach to the complex intellectual property issues

considered by the Subcommittee.

Kira M. Alvarez is the former legislative consultant for the

ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law. She previously

served as chief negotiator and deputy assistant USTR for IP

enforcement during the Obama Administration.

KA: What do you think is the greatest invention out there?

TT: That list is a long one—which speaks to the value of

American innovation—and it is hard to name a “greatest.”

However, I think the computer, more than anything else, has

been possibly the greatest invention of all time when you

think about how many more inventions it has led to.

KA: Why did you decide to restart the Subcommittee on Intel-

lectual Property at the start of this Congress? What are your

current goals, and how do you plan to accomplish them?

TT: Before I went into public service, I worked for a num-

ber of years in technology and management consulting, where

I saw rsthand how intellectual property propelled innovation

and economic growth. For example, look at North Carolina’s

economy. We are home to some of the most innovative com-

panies and research universities in the country. Without strong

intellectual property protections, many of these companies and

university research, and all of the high-income jobs they create

in North Carolina, would not exist.

My goal as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Intellectual

Property is to promote policies that will ensure America’s

innovation and creative economies continue to be the best in

the world. I think the key to this is approaching each policy

question with an open mind. There is not one right answer

to every problem; it is a process and, as you know all too

well, I love to take on the difcult issues. The process starts

with basic fact-nding, and I am appreciative of groups

like the ABA Intellectual Property Law Section—and your

members—who are always willing to come to the table and

provide constructive input on difcult issues.

KA: What do you think is the greatest challenge facing the

U.S. with respect to innovation, and how is the Subcommit-

tee helping to address this challenge?

TT: Intellectual property theft and infringement is the great-

est challenge to U.S. innovation. Protecting intellectual property

from theft and infringement is essential. If we don’t provide

adequate intellectual property protections, smart businesses and

individuals won’t invest the signicant time and money needed

to invent world-changing technologies, develop life-saving phar-

maceuticals, or create generational movies, music, books, and

other kinds of art that we remember for a lifetime.

KA: What policies, if any, can your committee implement

to discourage or disrupt state-sponsored theft of American

intellectual property?