CONGRESSIONAL HAMMER

OP/ED - PLEASE DISTRIBUTE

“The Patent Act of 2015 S.1137, and the Innovation Act H.R. 9, as written, are failures not only in legislation, but in democracy.”

Congress, fleeing the (fabricated) threat of death-dealing "trolls," a well-funded media propaganda campaign, proposes to deal with inventors and small business pursuing patent infringement against market-controlling corporations (who really wrote these bills?) in the manner resembling the witch hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries: dunk the accused inventor in the cold river of abusive, adverse, and cynical legislation meant to defeat him. If he drowns he will be considered innocent, but if he floats, declare witchcraft to be involved, which in modern times may be considered anything these corporations find disturbing. For the unfortunate few who survive this first ordeal, our Congress, armed with this new proof of the inventor's guilt under the heavens, takes another lesson from history: In Roman times, traitors were sewn in a leather bag with wild animals and thrown into the river (presumably now the Potomac), or now, equivalently, empowering Federal Court judges to favor defendants.

Already, it is virtually impossible to enforce patents against corporations. If the inventor's patents survive the readily available challenge of an interpartes reviews, Federal judges still hold the power to invalidate the patents and life's work of the inventor. (Some believe in violation of Seventh Amendment property rights). The present legislation destroys all hope of an inventor ever enforcing his patents, eviscerating the patent system itself for inventors and small business, and subverting, through a cynical use of the law, the intention of the founding fathers in creating protection for the American inventor through that patent system.

It is not necessary to understand the law to understand the hidden purpose of this legislation. A reading of any of the well drawn articles below can shed light on the truth of so-called "patent reform." Let every member of Congress supporting these bills be marked by their transparent intent to subvert the patent system and the rights of inventors, the real engine of innovation in America.

ARTICLES:

THE ANTI-INNOVATION ACT OF 2015

SECURING PATENT HEGEMONY OVER PATENT HOLDERS

INNOVATION ACT MAKES PATENTS HARDER TO ENFORCE, EASIER TO INFRINGE

WE'VE BEEN GOOGLED - H.R. 9, THE INNOVATION ACT

SECURING CORPORATE HEGEMONY OVER PATENT HOLDERS

SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL:

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/238973-hr-9-crushes-innovation-killing-the-american-dream

LEGAL EXPLICATION:

https://www.orrick.com/Events-and-Publications/Pages/congress-continues-to-promote-patent-reform-efforts.aspx

TAKE ACTION OR LOSE YOUR RIGHTS AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY:

"Helping pro-reform advocates were the late pickups of swing votes in Republican Sens. Jeff Sessions, Thom Tillis, and David Perdue as well as Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein, Al Franken, Richard Blumenthal, and Sheldon Whitehouse."

SENATE BILL S.1137

SENATE BILL S. 1137 CO-SPONSORS

HOUSE BILL H.R. 9

HOUSE BILL H.R. 9 CO-SPONSORS

COMMITTEES:

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS

SENATE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS

For a list of Congressman and Senates who have voted for this legislation, go to:

https://www.govtrack.us/

OP/ED - PLEASE DISTRIBUTE

CONGRESS DECLARES WAR ON AMERICAN INVENTORS AND FOUNDERS

Bills S. 1137 and HR. 9 Would End American Dream

Bills S. 1137 and HR. 9 Would Virtually Sanction Corporate Theft
of Inventors' Patented Technology

The Patent Act of 2015: The Patent Theft Act of 2015

“Have no doubt about it: The outraged ghosts of Tesla, Bell, Noyce, and the Wright Brothers are awakened from their eternal slumber by this profanation of invention once protected by our Constitution, and are now roaming the halls of Congress.”

“Inventors, individual patent holders, and small business patent holders are about to see the not so invisible hands of Congress reaching out to tear the patents off their walls in order to hand them to wealthy corporations.”

"Within the present system, even with solid patents in hand against clear and ongoing infringement, inventors are as likely to end up bankrupt as successful in their pursuit of infringement claims."

In bills that even one sitting Congressman described as “deserving of the description crony capitalism,” Senate and House committees have released two bills, S. 1137 and HR. 9, certain to destroy inventors and their innovations in America. Foregoing the need to actually appear in the courtroom on behalf of defendants of patent infringement suits, members of Congress are instead writing legislation to serve the same purpose in bills that are not only a failure of the legislative process, but of the practice of democracy itself.

With 70 million Americans on the brink of bankruptcy, and 75% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, the Congress has apparently determined the disproportion of wealth is not yet sufficient. With the most fundamental understanding of the enormous implications of these bills, no one can view S. 1137 and HR. 9 as other than the worst kind of predation by corporate interests upon working class inventors in America.

Equally as important, at a time when other countries are bringing their capital into the United States seeking American innovation, these bills would destroy the innovators. Over 40% of the Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants, many who had nothing but patents upon which to gather capital and build their businesses.

Have no doubt about it: The outraged ghosts of Tesla, Bell, Noyce, and the Wright Brothers are awakened from their eternal slumber by this profanation of invention once protected by our Constitution, and are now roaming the halls of Congress. Because inventors and individual patent holders are the visionaries and business founders with the drive to create enterprise, stripping them of their patents rights is to irreparably harm American business and the American economy. Small business is responsible for half of all job creation, and it is small business that historically has created new industry. These bills would end that, leaving only the large corporations to attempt to fill the void, a task they have shown themselves ill suited to accomplish.

As patent infringement becomes unenforceable, inventors, individual patent holders, and small business patent holders are about to see the not so invisible hands of Congress reaching out to tear the patents off their walls in order to hand them to wealthy corporations.

Patents, despite being called “intellectual property,” are in fact not property; the present courts have determined that patents are a “grant of rights,” and rights are argued in Federal Courts. By changing the underlying rights of patents regarding infringement, patents can essentially be taken out of the hands of their lawful owners by simply making those patents unenforceable by inventors in any practical sense.

This is the real intent and effect of S. 1171 and HR. 9. Congress, after creating the so-called America Invents Act, appears to be so single-mindedly working to bolster the defenses of patent-infringing corporations as to make them virtually unassailable.

Amidst all the media coverage of trolls, bad patents, and bad litigation practices, which in itself is only a well orchestrated media campaign of identifiable origin, is lost any voice raised on behalf of the inventor with valid patents whose Constitutional rights have been violated by infringement. Rights without a practical means of enforcement are meaningless; to support innovation, Congress should be seeking to strengthen those rights, not weaken them. Congress should be making it possible for inventors to build corporations based on their patents, not creating a climate of contempt for patents and patent infringement claims.

Within the present system, even with solid patents in hand against clear and ongoing infringement, inventors are as likely to end up bankrupt as successful in their pursuit of infringement claims.

S.1171 and HR. 9 are bad for innovation, bad for small business, bad for the economy, bad for the sense of equality before the law, and bad for America.

If S.1171 and HR.9 are not completely stopped, and the thinking behind them reversed in favor of inventors and patent enforcement, the heart of American innovation will be, and so will the American dream.

_________

All Rights Released with Attribution: blogspot.congressionalhammer.com

* * *

NOTE: There are now numerous articles on the Web, many by attorneys in the field of patent law and litigation who have articulated well drawn arguments explaining the dangerous, destructive, and inequitable nature of these bills: