Law360: What Coons And Tillis Learned At Patent Reform Hearings by Sens. Chris Coons and Thom Tillis
The United States has long been a nation of innovators and entrepreneurs. The American people’s ability to create solutions to problems that evaded others for centuries has propelled our unrivaled technological, economic and military leadership. This ability to generate exciting breakthrough innovations is due in large part to our founders’ decision to harness the creative genius of American inventors through strong intellectual property laws.
If you have watched the popular prime-time show “Shark Tank,” you have probably seen that the ability to secure patent protection plays a vital role in securing funding for new ideas. A patent can easily make or break the dreams of an entrepreneur. That same patent-protection calculus plays out in equally high-stakes boardroom meetings, as investors and executives decide how to allocate limited resources.