A new bipartisan Senate bill introduced on Wednesday seeks to reinvigorate the ailing U.S. patent system through a series of reforms and by supporting American investors and innovators. U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Tom Cotton (R- Ark.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Haw.)  Introduced the STRONGER Patents Act to protect and support inventors and innovators and ensure that our patent system protects this essential property right. Representing an updated and expanded version of Senator Coons’ STRONG Patents Act of 2015, the STRONGER Patents Act takes critical steps to improve the patent system.

The bill focus in achieving five things

  • Crack down on abusive demand letters by empowering the Federal Trade Commission to target firms that abuse startups rather than invent anything.
  • Ensure that pleading standards for patent-infringement cases match the standards used for all other forms of civil actions, creating a significant barrier to frivolous lawsuits before any funds are spent on discovery.
  • Eliminate fee diversion from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office so we can ensure that those who examine patents have adequate training and dependable funding.
  • Ensure balance in post-grant proceedings at the PTO, so that this expedited form of patent litigation is both fast and fair.
  • Analyze the impact that our patent system has on small businesses, both from the perspective of startups reliant on patents and those small businesses facing allegations of infringement.

 

The goal of the bill is to make it easier and less costly for patent holders to enforce patents. While that would not sound like a partisan issue, the legal pursuit of patents by so-called “trolls” that buy up patents and try to extort payments is an issue that implicates patent enforcement, and the bill has at least on Republican backer.

Strong patent Act

“The STRONG Patents Act of 2015 is a straightforward bill that would effectively crack down on the abusive practices of so-called patent trolls without weakening the U.S. patent system. Universities rely on a strong patent system to ensure that research discoveries can be transitioned to private sector entities, which can scale-up and develop marketable products that improve quality of life and fuel the economy. This measure would help ensure the strength of this technology transfer process, which significantly contributes to our nation’s leadership in science and theology.” – Association of Public Land Grant Universities.”

“Supporting American inventors is not a partisan issue.  The value and importance of patents is astounding, contributing over $800 billion in value to the U.S. economy and the source of millions of jobs for Americans.  But, we must work together to ensure that the patent laws keep up with the innovators, so their ideas and businesses can fuel the American economy for generations to come.  This means working to ensure that a patent continues to play its historic role in enabling inventors and small businesses to get funding and protect their ideas from being copied by larger corporate infringers,” said Senator Coons, author of the STRONGER Patents Act. “It is in our best interest both nationally and globally to ensure that our patent system works for everyone.”

Strong rights in property

Whether intellectual or tangible—have been a key driver behind U.S. economic might.  Eroding such rights would imperil innovation and job growth, so we need to maintain strong patent protections if we want our economy to grow at full speed,” said Senator Cotton. “I’m glad to see my colleagues from both sides of the aisle understand just how important patent rights are to our future. And I believe this bill will make sure intellectual-property rights are treated with the same respect as all our other rights.”

“America has a proud tradition of fostering some of history’s greatest inventors and innovators—Congress must do everything it can to ensure this continues in the future,” said Senator Durbin. “We must preserve and strengthen the ability of legitimate patent holders to protect their innovations, while taking steps to narrowly target and deter abusive patent troll behavior. This bill strikes that balance.”

“America’s patent system drives innovation and fuels long-term economic growth. This is particularly true for the small businesses and entrepreneurs that form the backbone of Hawaii’s economy,” said Senator Hirono. “The STRONGER Patents Act supports innovation by restoring balance and improving quality in the patent process, and takes important steps to protect businesses harmed by abuses in patent litigation without placing unnecessary burdens on innovative start-ups, inventors, and universities.

The stronger patent Act focuses on achieving the!

  • Restoring investor confidence in patents by ensuring that the new administrative reviews at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are balanced and efficient.
  • Restoring incentives for parties to reach license agreements without going to court by reestablishing that patents are property rights, enforceable with injunctions.
  • Helping universities and small businesses access the patent system, fostering the next generation of breakthrough technologies.
  • Ensuring that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has unfettered access to the fees it collects from the users of its services so that it can modernize its technology and issue patents of the highest quality.

Among the changes from the STRONG Act introduced in the last Congress are “repetitive, harassing petitions in the administrative reviews at the USPTO, reducing duplication between these reviews and district court, and providing a new approach to amending patent claims during them

The bill has already earned support among conservative organizations, including the American Conservative Union, Conservatives for Property Rights, Eagle Forum, and Americans for Limited Government. Charles Sauer, president of the free-market focused Market Institute, authored an op-ed on Wednesday in which he wrote that the bill will “defend and maintain the innovation economy.”

Conclusion

In this Congress, together with patent reform, Consumers and their colleagues have ensured that the debate is on those conditions they have decided. This anti-patent law will be responsive to starting and will provide it very less powerful. Congress is already very busy, especially the Senate, so it is unlikely that anything coming out of the legislature is going to happen and in the near future the President is going to the table for sign-off; But this is not always the case.In recent years, America has been struggling to create a patent narrative among political decision-makers. The powerful patent act can only change that change. It’s smart politics.