S.Amdt. 6469

SA 6469, submitted by Mrs. Britt, is an amendment to bill S. 4784. Its purpose is to create a new title called "Fair Access to Critical Computing Technologies."

The amendment aims to add new rules regarding how certain "covered ISA providers" (entities that design or control instruction set architectures and are not U.S. persons or are foreign-controlled) license their technology to United States persons.

Key changes and additions include:

• Licensing Obligations: Covered ISA providers must offer licenses on terms that are fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory. They cannot exclude or disadvantage U.S. persons.
• Dispute Handling: If a licensing dispute happens, the provider cannot block or restrict access to the technology while the dispute is being settled.
• Legal Protections: The amendment makes void any agreement that stops a U.S. person from challenging the provider's intellectual property in court. It also prohibits providers from retaliating against U.S. persons who file such legal challenges.
• Enforcement: The Attorney General can bring civil actions for violations, and aggrieved U.S. persons have a private right to sue for relief in court.
• Exceptions: These rules do not apply to architectures made available through royalty-free open-source licenses.