Hello Patriots,
Read, Take Action, Repost and Resend!
In the House is a bill that will be considered on the floor before the full house, in the next few days. It is H.R. 1249 "America Invents Act", you can see it here http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h112-1249 , Although introduced by Republican Lamar Smith (TX) and some provisions may be worthwhile, the net outcome of the bill with its provision to change Patent office registering of patents from "First to Invent" to "First to File" would undermine the protections given to inventors in the Constitution. It would in practice be more like "First to Steal" a patent. The real danger is the risk of American Intellectual property, being stolen by the likes of multi-national corporations in China and other countries.
An argument is made that it would put us more in line with the patent rules of other countries, but then who in America really cares. It is our empowering of the people that has made us so prosperous, this is not the time to allow another blow against the Constitution and our rights, for the sake of being like others. We started out different!!
I personally revel in our American exceptionalism, how about you? Read below what Congressman Dana Rohrbacher had to say in a press release to counter this hideous bill. Then please call your Congressman at (202)-224-3121 or Toll Free (877)-762-8762 or email http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/ and urge them to vote no on this bill when it comes up. If you have time please call these Co-sponsors and ask them to review the Constitutionality of the bill and please withdraw as Co-sponsors.
Steven Chabot [R-OH1] John Duncan [R-TN2] Elton Gallegly [R-CA24] Robert Goodlatte [R-VA6]
No savings, no changes in procedure, no legislation should ever come at the expense of the Rights guaranteed under the Constitution!
***PRESS RELEASE*** Reps. Rohrabacher, Kaptur Lead Bipartisan Opposition to Patent Reform Bill
Letter Signed by 50 Members Asking for Constitutionality Debate Unveiled
Washington, Jun 1 -
Today, Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) expressed their opposition to H.R. 1249, the America Invents Act, citing constitutional concerns and listing several provisions they consider detrimental to American innovation and harm the average inventors ability to secure patents. The lawmakers were joined by two former House Judiciary Committee Chairmen, Reps. John Conyers (D-MI) and Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) to unveil a letter signed by 50 bipartisan Members, addressed to the House Rules Committee, requesting time for the constitutionality of the bill to be adequately debated.
“If H.R. 1249 is passed into law, we will have weaker protections for our inventors and we can expect American innovation to be easily stolen not only domestically but by foreign entities overseas,” said Rohrabacher. “Perhaps the worst aspect of this bill, that hurts the American people the most, is the harmonization of our laws with those internationally in terms of the fundamental way we issue patents.
“The bottom line is this,” Rohrabacher stated. “In our Constitution, the words make it very clear that the original inventor should be the one who receives the patent, not the global standard of whoever files first. That would be very damaging to American innovators and would change the way we do business.”
According to the House Committee on Rules, if a threshold of 50 Member signatures is reached “in a letter addressed to the Chair of the Committee on Rules requesting a separate period of debate to discuss the constitutionality of a measure considered under a rule, the Chair shall include such a period of separate debate, not to exceed 20 minutes, evenly divided and controlled between a Member specified in the letter and a Member defending the committee position.”
Reps. Rohrabacher and Kaptur also called for H.R. 1249 to be rejected outright by the House of Representatives and replaced with a bill that straightens out the current mess of backlogs, delays, and inadequate funding at the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Lawmakers expressed concerns that several of the bill’s provisions are not only unconstitutional, but a “jobs-killer” that harms the main source of new jobs in the economy, small businesses and start-ups. In its current form, H.R. 1249 greatly increases costs on the “little guy” inventors seeking patents making it a cost prohibitive venture in many cases and increases the likelihood any patents that are granted will be infringed upon and subsequently tied up for years in the bureaucracy under the new procedures.
In addition to Reps. Rohrabacher (R-CA), Kaptur (D-OH), Conyers (D-MI), Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Manzullo (R-IL), Kevin Kearns from the U.S. Business and Industry Council, patent expert David Boundy, and constitutional scholars Jonathan Massey and Adam Mossoff, also participated in the press conference.
H.R. 1249 is expected to be brought for a vote later this month. Thank You!
For Liberty's Sake,
Tom Whitmore
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