Posts Tagged: "115th Congress"

Patent Reform: U.S. Inventor Act goes to Congress

This week US Inventor, an inventor organization working in Washington DC and around the US to advocate for strong patent protection for inventors and startups, rolled out the U.S. Inventor Act in the House of Representatives… Early stage funding for U.S. startups has dropped 62%. We are at a 40 year low in new business formation. What used to be approximately 85% of all venture capital invested in U.S. startups is now about half invested in China’s startups. Not surprisingly, in communist China, the startup market is booming, growing by 23%. As a result, China has taken the lead in swaths of new technologies, including technologies critical to our national security like artificial intelligence (AI). AI runs not only our power grids, but our tanks and ships. We will soon be mired in the swamp of a national security disaster as China moves even further ahead and we are forced to purchase these products from them.

Tax Reform will Harm Inventors, High Tech Start-ups

More disturbing than the harmful effects the proposed changes would have – this signals a continuing approach toward patent rights as not being a property right, which contradicts the Patent Act and centuries of precedent. Indeed, the government’s destruction of the once great U.S. patent system is built upon a simple, yet scary philosophy: Where it matters, no one in government actually considers a patent to be a property right. If a patent is not a property right, a patent can be treated however the political winds blow (or political money flows). And that is exactly what has happened. So why not tax it more?

House Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte Announces Retirement

Earlier today Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), who has been Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and a strong proponent for patent reform, announced that he would be leaving Congress at the end of his current term and not standing for reelection in 2018… With Goodlatte exiting the fate of further patent reform efforts in the House will largely depend upon who ultimately is tapped to wield the Chair’s gavel. Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) can be expected to make an internal push for the gavel.

The Impact of Bad Patents on American Businesses

What is a bad patent? Congress has established the requirements for obtaining a patent. The patent office grants a patent to applicants when they meet those requirements. It is simple. No trolls involved. If there are bad patents, then either the law is bad, or the patent office is not following the law when they grant the patents. Is the patent office issuing patents that do not meet the requirements set forth by Congress in the Patent Act? Or is the Patent Act too generous in setting forth the conditions for granting a patent?

Tax Bill Proposes Repeal of Capital Gains Treatment for Patents

The rule treating the transfer of a patent prior to its commercial exploitation as being available for long-term capital gains treatment would be repealed… Obviously, it is disheartening to see Republican leadership move to treat patents in this way, which suggests they do not view patents as a private property right. Not viewing patents as a private property right has become a growing and disturbing trend.