The Hill Opinion: Protecting American Innovation, by Reps. Steve Stivers (R-OH) & Bill Foster (D-IL)
This post originally appeared in The Hill on March 20, 2017.
Entrepreneurship and innovation are cornerstones to American ingenuity and economic growth. The patent system in the United States has traditionally allowed inventors to benefit from the fruits of their labor, and driving competition for the next inventor to improve upon a previous idea. Our framers understood this benefit and recognized that publicly sharing inventions with a central patent office incentivizes America’s innovative and entrepreneurial spirit – as long as we protect the right of the inventor to benefit.
Unfortunately those protections have been seriously weakened, and Congress needs to act before it is too late. That is why we have introduced the bipartisan STRONGER Patents Act, a U.S. House companion bill to legislation introduced by Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) last year.