SILICON VALLEY BILLIONAIRES ARE AT IT AGAIN…
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The Innovation Act (H.R. 9) was just reported out of the House Judiciary Committee. As you probably know, this bill has nothing to do with “innovation.” It is a creation of the lobbyists for Big Tech, and the purpose of the bill is to make it riskier and more expensive for patentees (especially inventors, universities and licensing companies) to assert their intellectual property rights.
If you are not familiar with The Innovation Act (H.R. 9), here is a link to an excellent critique of the bill in Forbes Magazine: http://www.forbes.com/sites/econostats/2015/05/29/who-are-patent-trolls-and-what-will-h-r-9-do-about-them/
We need to make sure that Congress hears our voice. It is imperative that each member of the innovation community e-mail his or her U.S. Representative and ask him or her to vote “NO” on H.R. 9. We each need to explain in our own words that:
H.R. 9 is not about promoting, but about stifling, innovation.
The bill enables the large high-tech corporations to enforce their patents, but makes it riskier and more expensive for everyone else to enforce their intellectual property rights.
The bill, if enacted, will have the unintended consequence of weakening and, therefore, reducing the value of U.S. Patents.
Reduced patent value will result in less innovation, fewer start-up businesses based on those innovations, and fewer new jobs.
Numerous patent experts, including former USPTO Director David Kappos, have stated their opposition to H.R. 9 as an over-reaction to the “patent troll” issue.
There are other bills coming up for consideration that specifically address the issue of “patent trolls” but do not weaken and devalue U.S. Patents.
To contact your U.S. Representative, go to http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and enter your zip code. There will be link that will enable you to send an e-mail to your Representative. If the U.S. Representative where you live is different from the U.S. Representative where you work, write to both of them!
Please do not let this fall through the cracks or get on your To-Do list. Please act on this immediately. Just a few dozen e-mails to one Rep will make a difference.
Please direct any questions to execdir@aminn.org.
Alec Schibanoff
Executive Director
American Innovators for Patent Reform
P.S.: Once you have e-mailed your Rep, please forward this e-mail to your employees and colleagues, and anyone you know in the innovation community who has an interest in protecting intellectual property rights.
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