East Valley Tribune: OPINION: Congressional proposals would stifle innovation, by Maura Indes
This post originally appeared in the East Valley Tribune on September 19, 2015.
My husband and I are small inventors. We’re the backbone of American innovation. But if Washington has anything to do with it, our story will become a relic of a bygone era.
There is a big debate happening in our nation’s capital right now that will impact our livelihood and the livelihood of many others who aspire to create and to innovate.
Congress is moving forward with legislation they are marketing as patent reform. We know it’s not a sexy issue that will get media coverage, but it’s still a very important issue and our elected representatives need to understand how this legislation will negatively impact me and other small inventors.
The purpose of patent law is to foster innovation and to safeguard inventors’ intellectual property. In the current litigious and bureaucratic environment, however, the opposite is occurring. The Innovation Act (HR 9) in the House and PATENT Act in the Senate are a ruse, a misguided attempt to remedy this situation at the behest of large corporate interests.