U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee Holds Hearing on PARTS Act

Posted 9/17/2012

ASA Joins Other Associations in Opposition to Legislation

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet recently held a hearing on the Promoting Automotive Repair, Trade and Sales (PARTS) Act, H.R. 3889.

The bill’s sponsor is Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). The legislation also has five co-sponsors, including Reps. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Walter Jones Jr. (R-N.C.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Dennis Ross (R-Fla.). Lofgren has offered similar legislation in a previous congress. Witnesses at the hearing included W. Neal Menefee, president and chief executive officer for Rockingham Group; Kelly Burris, shareholder and chair of Green Technology Practice Group, Brinks Hofer Gison & Lione; and Jack Gillis, director of public affairs at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

The bill makes it not an act of infringement, with respect to a design patent, to: (1) make, test or offer to sell within the U.S., or import into the U.S., any article of manufacture that is similar or the same in appearance to the component part claimed in such design patent if the purpose of such article is for the repair of a motor vehicle to restore its appearance to as originally manufactured; and (2) use or sell within the U.S. any such same or similar articles for such restorations more than 30 months after the claimed component part is first offered for public sale as part of a motor vehicle in any country.

Recently, ASA, along with 10 other automotive groups, sent a letter of opposition to this bill to the chairman of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet. The letter highlighted concerns about parts quality.