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Letter of the Week - Patent Reform
09/20/07"I am contacting you to make you aware of my opposition to H.R. 1908, The Patent Reform Act of 2007, in its current form.
"Patents are of chief importance to my company. Patents provide the incentive that drives us to invest billions in research every year to produce life-improving and life-saving medicines. Manufacturers, universities, labor unions, independent inventors and many others have expressed strong concerns about the bill as currently drafted.
"While my company worked as part of a large coalition to improve this legislation, all of the necessary changes have not been made. This bill will harm America’s innovation, cut our economic growth, and provide new avenues for endless litigation.
"I urge you to contact your leadership and request that the bill not be scheduled for floor consideration until much-needed changes are made. If the bill is brought up for consideration in the near-term, I am asking you to vote 'No' on H.R. 1908.
"Thank you for your consideration of this extremely important matter."
-- Brooke
Dear Brooke,
Thank you for contacting me about patent reform. As your representative, I need your input, and it is especially valuable on such complex matters as the best patent policy for the country.
Although the U.S. Constitution is a fairly short document, patents are actually specifically addressed in it. The Patent and Copyright Clause (Art. I, Sec. 8, Clause 8) directs Congress “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.” The founders knew that an effective patent system would promote the sciences, and they believed that this was important enough to spell it out in the country’s charter.
Patents are meant to speed our scientific progress by rewarding inventors with a 21-year monopoly in exchange for making their discovery public so that others can learn from and build on their ideas.
Unfortunately, as the sciences become more complex, the jobs of the examiners who review patent applications have become more difficult. The examiners have to be experts in areas that are evolving rapidly. They have to determine whether applications really represent new ideas and whether those ideas are a big enough advances to merit a patent. It’s a tough job that gets tougher every year, and yet the patent system hasn’t been overhauled since 1952.
Not surprisingly, there have been widespread calls for an update, and I think that makes sense.
Our universities are responsible for a big amount of the scientific research and a big number of the patents granted by the patent office, so I have consulted closely with both K-State and KU in my consideration of the patent reform bill.
H.R. 1908, the Patent Reform Act, came before the whole House on September 7, 2007. During the debate, several amendments were adopted that addressed the concerns of the Universities and other major researchers.
With those changes made, I supported the final bill and it passed with bipartisan support.
This is a complex and fast-changing issue, and it may need to be revisited again in a few years, but I believe that the changes made in H.R. 1908 will improve the patent system and thereby improve the scientific research that boosts the economy and improves our lives.
Thank you again for contacting me, and please do not hesitate to do so again if I may be of service.
Sincerely,
Nancy Boyda
Member of Congress