[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 95 (Thursday, July 16, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8377-S8379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OMNIBUS PATENT ACT OF 1997
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I am here once again to talk about S. 507,
the Omnibus Patent Act of 1997. On this date back in 1878, a gentleman
named Thaddeus Hyatt was granted a patent for reinforced concrete. Now,
120 years later, the Senate is refusing to reinforce American
innovation by failing to take concrete action to reform our nation's
patent laws.
We are presented with an opportunity that will not soon repeat
itself--an opportunity to pass S. 507 and give U.S. inventors longer
patent terms, put more royalties in their pockets, save them money in
costly patent litigation, and avoid wasting their development resources
on duplicative research. At the same time, we can get our new
technology more rapidly into the marketplace and make U.S. companies
more competitive globally.
Remaining globally competitive is not an idle concern. The failure of
this body to enact the reforms of our patent system contained in S. 507
has given foreign entities applying for and receiving patents in the
U.S. unfair advantages over U.S. firms--advantages that U.S. persons
filing and doing business abroad do not have. This ability to keep U.S.
inventors in the dark about the latest technological developments does
not work to our economic advantage. Why are we turning our backs on our
businesses, small and large, by not voting on this bill?
I have made recent speeches citing the strong support this
legislation has around the country. This legislation has more than just
Vermont or any state in mind. It has the entire country in its best
interest. Our 200 year old patent system has provided protections to
many of our inventions that have led to our global economic leadership
position in the world marketplace. However, that leadership position is
being threatened. Litigation has increased. Small inventors have been
taken advantage of. Inventors and businesses are asking for our help
and requesting that we pass S. 507.
The Senate Judiciary Committee reported this bill out over a year ago
by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 17-1, and this bill has yet to
see the light of day on the floor. No longer can we turn the other
cheek when American business lets out such a cry for help. We need to
bring this bill to the floor now and to pass it. We must not squander
this opportunity to not only update our patent system but to come to
America's defense.
I inserted into the Congressional Record on June 23, letters of
support from the White House Conference on Small Businesses, the
National Association of Women Business Owners, the Small Business
Technology Coalition, National Small Business United, the National
Venture Capital Association, and the 21st Century Patent Coalition.
On July 10, I inserted into the Congressional Record additional
letters of support from The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of
America; the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures of America,
PhRMA; the American Automobile Manufacturers Association; the Software
Publishers Association; the Semiconductor Industry Association; the
Business Software Alliance; the American Electronics Association; and
the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.
I now ask that additional letters of support for S. 507 be printed in
the Record. These letters are from IBM; the Biotechnology Industry
Organization; the International Trademark Association; 3M; Intel
Corporation; Caterpillar; AMP Incorporated; and Hewlett-Packard
Company.
There being no objection, the letters were ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
IBM Internet Media Group,
Essex Junction, VT, June 6, 1998.
Hon. Patrick Leahy,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Leahy: As an inventor I rely on the strength
of the U.S. patent system to legally protect my invention(s).
I am also the chairman of an ANSI standardization committee
(NCITS L3.1) which represents the United States in an
International Standardization Forum (ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 29/WG
11). Our committee has developed the Emmy Award winning
standard called MPEG-2, a standard which may have never come
to pass had it not been for strong International parent
protection. We are currently working on the future of
International
[[Page S8378]]
Multimedia (MPEG-4), a standard which promises to be as
popular and widely used as MPEG-2 will be. The strength of
the patent laws is essential to promoting participation and
the development of International Standards. However, the
system which for years has effectively encouraged innovation
and protected inventors, is no longer effective. A
significant number of ways have been found to abuse it, such
as people and/or companies obtaining inappropriate patents
and in some cases pilfering others' hard-earned invention.
This threatens to undermine America's position as the global
leader in technology innovation. I am proud that my work as
an inventor has contributed to IBM's patent portfolio.
There is no legislation pending before you that will help
restore leadership and integrity to the U.S. patent system.
It is responsive to today's fast paced, highly competitive
environment, and it will protect inventors like me. I am
writing to ask you to urge Majority Leader Lott (R-MS) to
bring S. 507, the Omnibus Patent Act of 1997, to the Senate
floor as soon as possible and for you to support its final
passage.
The bipartisan Omnibus Patent Act of 1997, S. 507, was
passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee 17-1 and has not
yet been brought up for a floor vote. The House of
Representatives also passed a similar bill in May 1997. Five
former Commissioners of the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO)
support this bill. A Senate floor vote is the only way to
continue the process to enact this legislation that would
help protect inventors and companies from patent system
abuse.
Please help protect America's intellectual property and
urge Majority Leader Lott (R-MS) to bring this bill to the
floor for a vote. Thank you for your attention to this
matter, and as a concerned constituent, I request your
support of this legislation.
Sincerely,
Peter P. Schirling,
IBM Senior Engineer.
____
June 18, 1998.
Re Scheduling Debate on Patent Reform Legislation, S. 507
(Hatch/Leahy).
United States Senator,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator: We are writing to urge you to support
scheduling of the patent reform legislation, S. 507, on the
Senate floor before the August recess. This legislation is
supported by an overwhelming majority of the Senators and the
few Senators who have amendments to offer can easily be
accommodated in a time agreement.
BIO has been working on this critical legislation for four
years, the House passed the bill by a lopsided and bipartisan
margin, and it emerged from the Senate Judiciary Committee on
a near-unanimous vote. There are very few issues for the
Senate debate or conference with the House. It should be easy
to complete action on this bill and enact it into law this
session. Doing so will be a major victory for biomedical and
other research.
This bill answers the concerns raised by the biotechnology
industry and other high technology industries regarding the
erosion of patents caused by the adoption of the GATT 20
year-from-filing regime. We need to enact this bill to
provide vital protection to biotechnology firms conducting
research on cures and therapies for cancer, AIDS,
Alzheimer's, and other deadly and disabling diseases.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) represents
almost 800 companies and organizations that use or support
biotechnology research. Our companies are finding the next
generation of medicines and cures for endemic diseases that
diminish the quality of life for all Americans. On a per
capita basis, our companies invest more in research and
development than any other industry--almost ten times the
national average--or about $100,000 per employee per year.
This industries investment (almost 10 billion dollars in
1998) is protected primarily through the patent system.
Patents as an incentive for this critical research. Without
patents this research would stop because no investor will
fund this research without patents. This is why the patent
term protections in this bill are so important. The Hatch-
Leahy patent term bill provides complete and unequivocal
protections to ensure that diligent patent applicants will
not lose patent term under the new GATT 20 year patent law.
There is no industry which has lost more in patent
protection under the new GATT 20 year patent term than the
biotechnology industry. Our industry has been working for
three years to secure protections so that diligent patent
applicants cannot, and will not, lose patent protection under
this new law. It is imperative that the GATT law be amended
to protect diligent patent applicants this year.
Diligent patent applicants cannot lose patent term under
the patent provisions of Hatch-Leahy bill. If there are any
delays in the grant of a patent by the Patent and Trademark
Office (PTO) which are beyond the applicant's control, the
applicant is given extra patent term--day-for-day
compensation. This is a similar system which now applies when
a patent holder loses patent term due to delays in the
approval of a product by the Food and Drug Administration.
So, the solution provided by the Hatch-Leahy bill is tried
and tested and it works.
In addition to these patent term provisions, the Hatch-
Leahy bill also provides for publication of internationally
filed patent applications 18 months after filing and BIO
supports this provision as well. Our companies file for
patents in Europe and Japan where all applications are
published after 18 months. Therefore 18 month publication in
the United States will place U.S. companies on equal footing
to their European and Asian competitors.
We enthusiastically support the patent term and publication
provisions of the Hatch-Leahy bill, know that it solves the
patent term problem, urge you to support scheduling of this
bill and support final passage. The current GATT/TRIPS law is
very problematic for the biotechnology industry and enactment
of S. 507 is needed to eliminate the disincentive for
biomedical research,
Please contact us with any questions about this critical
issue; we would be pleased to meet with you to discuss them.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Ludlam,
Vice President for Government Relations.
Dave Schmickel,
Patent and Legal Counsel.
____
International Trademark
Association,
Washington, DC, May 8, 1998.
Hon. Patrick J. Leahy,
U.S. Senate, Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Leahy: You already know of our association's
strong support for S. 507, the Omnibus Patent Reform Act. Our
members are trademark owners located in every state of the
union. This bipartisan bill makes important changes to the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) that are necessary
to enable the USPTO to respond efficiently and effectively to
the tremendous growth in trademark applications generated by
our robust economy.
With next week designated as ``High Tech Week'' in the
Senate, where legislation dealing with new technology will be
considered, there is no bill that is more deserving of
attention and support at this time than S. 507. By converting
the USPTO into a government corporation that is 100% user-fee
funded, S. 507 will free the agency from constraints which
have long hampered efficient operations. Passage of this
important legislation will ensure that new products and
inventions receive the protection they need both here at home
and in global markets.
S. 507 provides great value to intellectual property owners
and should be allowed to proceed to the Senate floor. We ask
for your help in gaining passage of S. 507.
Sincerely,
David Stimson,
President.
____
3M, Office of
Intellectual Property Counsel,
St. Paul, MN, June 9, 1998.
Hon. Patrick Leahy,
United States Senate,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Leahy: I am writing to express the strong
support of the 3M Company for the reforms contained in S.
507, the Hatch/Leahy Omnibus Patent Reform Act, and to
request that you ask Senator Lott to schedule it for a Senate
vote as soon as possible. S. 507 is critically important to
U.S. industry. Its reforms will strengthen and improve the
United States patent system, allowing American industry to
compete more effectively with its foreign competition.
S. 507 will give the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office the
administrative flexibility to operate at peak efficiency,
save inventors money, and accelerate patent processing. It
will allow American inventors and companies to see foreign
technology contained in U.S. patent applications more than a
year earlier than today, while ensuring that domestic
inventors who choose not to take advantage of publication
before patent grant may continue to do so if they do not file
outside of the U.S. The legislation will guarantee diligent
applications a patent term of at least 17 years from grant
and most will receive an even longer term of exclusivity. S.
507 would also make existing reexamination procedures more
effective by allowing greater third party participation,
while adding numerous safeguards to protect against abuse.
One specific reform of S. 507 which 3M most strongly
supports is that of creating a prior domestic commercial use
defense. This long overdue reform will protect manufacturing
jobs in American companies like 3M by ensuring that a late
filed patent--nearly one-half of U.S. patents are foreign
owned--will not disrupt domestic manufacturing operations.
Important technology underlying our successful Post-
it' Notes such as those attached to this letter--
and the jobs of the American workers who produce them--will
be made safer against foreign attack by the passage of S.
507.
The reforms in S. 507 are designed to improve the
functioning of the patent system for all users, large and
small. In fact, Senators Hatch and Leahy have recently agreed
to amend their bill on the Senate floor in response to
requests from small businesses. With these changes, key small
business constituencies such as the Technology Chairs of the
White House Conference on Small Business, the National
Association of Women Business Owners, and the Small Business
Technology Coalition have expressed their enthusiastic
support for S. 507.
[[Page S8379]]
U.S. industry needs these patent reforms now. Support S.
507 and urge Senator Lott to bring it to a vote promptly.
Sincerely,
Gary L. Griswold,
Staff Vice President and
Chief Intellectual
Property Counsel.
____
Intel Corporation
Santa Clara, CA, June 12, 1998.
Hon. Patrick J. Leahy,
U.S. Senate,
433 Russell Senate Office Building.
Dear Senator Leahy: For the past four years, Intel has been
an active participant in the 21st Century Patent Coalition,
which supports the enactment of patent reform legislation (S.
507). S. 507 would accomplish three broad goals of vital
importance to our industry: modernizing patent
administration, improving and simplifying dispute resolution
procedures in the Patent and Trademark Office, and
strengthening inventors' rights in a number of ways, most
importantly by protecting them from loss of term due to
Patent Office delays. Our coalition has the support of over
80 major American industrial companies and 22 industry
associations that are composed, primarily, of small
businesses.
Now, S. 507--which passed the House on a voice vote last
year, and was approved in the Senate Judiciary by a vote of
17-1--is ready for floor action in the Senate. Our coalition
has worked hard to address any and all legitimate concerns
about the text of the bill and its impact upon small business
entities and independent inventors, and we believe that it
would, if enacted, create the most pro-inventor patent system
in the world. It has recently received the enthusiastic
support of the White House Conference on Small Business
Technology Chairs, the National Association of Women Business
Owners, and the Small Business Technology Coalition.
The patent system we have today will be ill equipped to
serve the needs of inventors in the next century if the
improvements provided for in S. 507 are not made. We ask for
your help in scheduling S. 507 for a floor vote, and for your
support for the Committee bill on final passage.
Your support will help preserve America's role as the
world's technology leader.
Sincerely,
Carl Silverman,
Director of Intellectual Property.
____
Caterpillar Inc.,
Peoria, IL, June 3, 1998.
Hon. Patrick J. Leahy,
Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Leahy: I am writing to express Caterpillar's
strong support for S. 507 (Hatch/Leahy), The Omnibus Patent
Act of 1997. As you know, S. 507 was reported from the Senate
Judiciary Committee on a vote of 17-1 and is awaiting Senate
floor action. A companion bill passed the House last year.
S. 507 would modernize the U.S. patent system through major
improvements in our patent laws that will greatly benefit
America's large and small businesses, inventors and
entrepreneurs. For Caterpillar, this legislation will mean
reduced costs, reduced risk, reduced bureaucracy, fewer
lawsuits, more certainty regarding property rights, and
generally a faster, more responsive patent system.
Equally significant, key small business groups now agree
that S. 507 will streamline the patent process and help
America's inventors who currently suffer from delays in the
patent office that are not their fault.
It's time for the Senate to vote on this bill to help
strengthen the U.S. economy and keep jobs in America.
I urge you to contact Majority Leader Lott in support of
early scheduling of S. 507 for floor debate, and support the
efforts of its sponsors to adopt a bill without weakening
amendments.
Sincerely,
William B. Heming,
General Patent Counsel.
____
AMP Incorporated,
Washington, DC, June 3, 1998.
Hon. Patrick J. Leahy,
U.S. Senate,
Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Leahy: Please ask Senator Lott to bring S.
507, the Hatch-Leahy Omnibus Patent Act, to the floor as soon
as possible. This patent reform is important to AMP, our
employees, and the hundreds of inventors in our company who
think up new ideas to produce better products, to keep our
company competitive, and to create new jobs.
It's time to bring this bill up for a vote. The technology
chairs of the White House Conference on Small Business have
approved S. 507 because, ``(it) will lower the litigation
costs for small business, make it easier to know what areas
of technology are open for innovation, and will go a long way
towards giving us a more level playing field vis-a-vis our
foreign competitors.'' AMP and the dozens of other companies
and associations in the 21st Century Patent Coalition agree.
This bill has undergone months and months of scrutiny and
compromise and is now ready for a vote. I hope you'll
encourage the Majority Leader to schedule floor time for this
reasonable reform measure.
If you need any more information about S. 507, please let
me know.
Sincerely,
John Palafoutas,
Director, Federal Relations.
____
Hewlett-Packard Company,
Palo Alto, CA, June 22, 1998.
Hon. Patrick J. Leahy,
U.S. Senate,
Russell Senate Office Building,
Washington, DC.
Dear Senator Leahy: S. 507, the Omnibus Patent Act, has
been reported out of the Judiciary Committee, but is appears
that Majority Leader Lott needs some encouragement to
schedule the bill for floor action. Hewlett-Packard Company
strongly supports enactment of S. 507 and would appreciate
your support in urging Senator Lott to put the bill on the
calendar.
Enactment of S. 507 would assure that inventors can receive
a full 17 years--or more--of patent protection if they pursue
their patent claims in a timely manner. It would also
streamline patent operations to expedite processing and
accelerate the dissemination of new technologies for
continuing advancement in products and services.
Significantly, S. 507 achieves these important goals
without threatening a return to the ``submarine patent''
system that existed before the 1995 reform. Under the old
policy, an inventor could manipulate the patent system to
stretch the term even while withholding the new knowledge
from society. Prior to 1995, inventors could wait until the
technology had ripened, and then essentially extort license
fees form another inventor who had independently, in good
faith, created the same or a similar invention.
While ``submarine patents'' are infrequent, when they
strike, they are egregious. In an HP cases, for example, the
company has paid millions of dollars in royatlieis to a
Swedish inventor whose patent has expired in every other
country except the United States. This inventor contributed
nothing to the technology that is in use, in fact, he did not
offer to work with the consortium that was developing the
technology in an open-systems environment. A more thorough
explanation of that case is attached for your review.
Senator Hatch and other supporters of S. 507 have worked
diligently with small business and independent inventors to
resolve concerns about the bill. It is a good compromise for
a more effective patent system as we head into the 21st
century. HP urges your support for S. 507 without weakening
amendments that would revive the submarine patent system.
Sincerely,
Lew Platt,
Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer.
____________________