LaCrosse Tribune Letter to the Editor: Patent bills would threaten innovation, by Janel Spicer
This post originally appeared in the LaCrosse Tribune on January 6, 2016.
While they may not be getting much attention, two bills in Congress threaten our nation’s rich tradition of innovation. These bills, HR 9 and S 1137, are opposed by such groups as the Small Business Technology Council, the national Club for Growth, the Association of American Universities, the American Conservative Union, the National Small Business Association and Heritage Action, among others.
The reason for this opposition is these bills would make it so expensive and complicated to defend a patent that many small businesses and independent inventors would be helpless to stop foreign knock-offs of their products. While this may not matter to large corporations that have a team of lawyers, it would cost small businesses their livelihood and cost American jobs.