[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 133 (Tuesday, September 24, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1674]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            INTRODUCTION OF THE BOAT PROTECTION ACT OF 1996

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIM SAXTON

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 24, 1996

  Mr. SAXTON. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a bill to stop an 
increasingly common problem facing America's marine manufacturers. This 
problem, originally brought to my attention by a boat manufacturer in 
my congressional district, entails the theft of proprietary designs 
with respect to the production of boat hulls. Such piracy threatens not 
only the integrity of the U.S. marine manufacturing industry, but the 
safety of America boaters as well.
  Boat manufacturers invest significant resources in the design and 
development of safe, structurally sound, and often high performance 
boat hull designs. Including research and developmental costs, a boat 
manufacturer often invests as much as $50,000 to develop a design from 
which a single line of vessels can be manufactured. When a boat hull is 
designed, and the engineering and tooling process is completed, 
engineers then develop a boat plug, from which they construct a boat 
mold. The manufacturer is then able to produce a particular line of 
boats from this mold. In contrast, those intent on stealing the 
original boat design, rather than developing their own, can simply use 
a finished boat hull in place of the manufacturer's plug to develop or 
splash a mold. This copied mold can then be used to manufacture a line 
of vessels with a hull identical to that appropriated from the 
competitor at a cost well below that of the company that originally 
designed the hull.
  Hull splashing is a significant problem for consumers, as well as 
manufacturers and boat design firms. Consumers of copied boats are 
defrauded in the sense that they are not benefiting from the aspects of 
the hull design, other than shape, that are structurally relevant to 
safety. It is also more unlikely that consumers are aware that a boat 
has been copied from an existing design. Moreover, if manufacturers are 
unable to recoup at least some of their research and development costs, 
they may no longer be willing to invest in new, innovative boat 
designs--designs that could lead to safer watercraft for consumers.
  The Boat Protection Act of 1996 would work in concert with current 
Federal law to protect American marine manufacturers from harmful and 
unfair competition from unscrupulous foreign and domestic rivals.
  I urge my colleagues to support the Boat Protection Act of 1996 and 
stand with me in my effort to protect the American public and the 
marine manufacturing community from the assault on American ingenuity 
caused by hull splashing.

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