No action under current federal consideration would be more detrimental to American innovation, venture formation and economic development than the current Patent-Reforming and so-called “America Invents Act” (S. 23) and corresponding H. R. 1249. This situation is particularly ironic given that both the current Administration and Congress seem to “get it”, supporting by a variety of initiatives the reality that most new jobs in our struggling economy are generated by the new venture start-up sector. The current “Patent Reform” proposal seeks to remedy the government’s admitted problems with efficiently carrying out its chartered administrative functions by “killing the goose that lays the golden egg” rather than by reforming its backlog-causing current procedures, and simply ought not to pass!
Specifically, these bills as written put unnecessarily more power (such may be their intention) into the hands of the big business sector, at the expense of the independent inventors and entrepreneurs who have been critical to the American economy since its beginning and remain ever more so today. The proposal to change the fundamental basis of patent eligibility from First-To-Invent to First-To-File, the additional but unspecified further expenses likely to result from broader administrative fee-setting authority, the enhanced opportunities and decreased burden of proof for challenge to patents during consideration or even after award, will all markedly lessen the ability, and thus the motivation, for independent inventors and entrepreneurs to file for and benefit from patent protection, and will therefore critically decrease their ability to obtain needed financing for these fledgling enterprises. Big business, on the other hand, will be further competitively advantaged in these regards, when it needs no such additional protection or support either domestically or internationally due to its already substantial resources.
As the broadest organizational advocate for ALL PLAYERS (inventors, entrepreneurs, investors, economic development professionals, universities, public laboratories, etc.) in the Innovation Economy, the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds (NASVF) recommends strongly that these bills ought not to pass, but instead should be tabled in favor of a much more thoughtful, deliberate and consensual effort at fixing the broken American patent system without vitiating it entirely. After all, the system has stood us in good stead economically and competitively for over 200 years, and should not be carelessly thrown away through narrow parochial interests disguised as (misdirected) reform.
Anyone interested in preserving the ability of this country’s independent inventors and entrepreneurs to participate in and benefit from our patent system is urged to write immediately to their representatives and senators urging delay or rejection of H. R. 1249 and S. 23, the “America Invents Act”, consideration of which is imminent in Congress.
Charles Sidman, MBA, PhD
Chair, NASVF Advocacy Committee
