South OC Times

Washington, DC – The House Foreign Affairs Committee has passed the Protecting American Innovation and Development (PAID) Act (H.R. 8924) on a bipartisan vote. This bill, spearheaded by U.S. Representatives Young Kim (CA-40) and John Moolenaar (MI-02), targets foreign adversaries that steal U.S. intellectual property (IP) and trade secrets of dual-use technologies critical to national security.

The PAID Act mandates the Secretary of Commerce to identify and report on foreign adversary entities, including those linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Russia, North Korea, and Iran, which utilize American IP related to crucial technology areas without a license. These areas include hypersonic systems, artificial intelligence, and space technology.

“We must expose authoritarian regimes like the CCP who steals up to $600 billion worth of U.S. intellectual property and trade secrets each year. The PAID Act does exactly that, so we can hold bad actors accountable,” said Rep. Young Kim. “I thank my House Foreign Affairs Committee colleagues for supporting this commonsense bill to protect U.S. competitiveness and our national security.”

“It is the Chinese Communist Party’s playbook to steal our technology and leave our industry high and dry. We must push back against CCP IP theft and support the ingenuity of American tech companies. I’m encouraged that the PAID Act passed in the House Foreign Affairs Committee and eagerly await its passage in Congress,” said Chairman Moolenaar.

The PAID Act aims to enhance public transparency regarding foreign adversary entities violating U.S. IP regulations by:

- Requiring the End-User Review Committee to identify a foreign adversary entity using a U.S.-patented invention or covered trade secret acquired through improper means such as theft, bribery, or espionage;

- Mandating the Secretary of Commerce to publish notices on such entities identified by the End-User Review Committee in the Federal Register;

- Allowing U.S. small and medium-sized businesses to submit petitions requesting investigations into whether a foreign adversary entity is in violation;

- Requiring the Secretary of Commerce to submit a report listing all foreign adversary entities in violation to Congress.