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Van Hollen Statement on The America Invents Act
Washington,
Jun 23, 2011 -
Mr. Speaker, America’s patent system and the protection of intellectual property is an important source of innovation and national strength for our country. For that reason, any patent reform proposal must be judged based on its ability to improve patent quality, reduce the current backlog and provide patent holders greater certainty with respect to their patent rights. On that score, I believe the America Invents Act, on balance, achieves that objective.
In particular, our office received a number of calls regarding the proposed change to a first-inventor-to-file system. A variety of stakeholders – from the U.S. Patent Office to large multinational companies to biotech firms and angel investors in my district to the academic research community to independent inventors on both sides of this issue — weighed in with their respective points of view. In the final analysis, I concluded that the first-inventor-to-file standard in today’s legislation will provide greater certainty for innovators, produce stronger patents and enhance our nation’s economic competitiveness.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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Congressman Chris Van Hollen
