[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 129 (Tuesday, September 4, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H10065-H10071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICAN PATENT LAW
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) is
recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, tonight I would like to raise a red
flag to draw attention, the attention of my fellow Members, who are
here assembled, as well as those listening on C-SPAN and those who will
be reading this in the Congressional Record.
On Friday, legislation is scheduled to come to the floor of the House
that will have a huge impact on the American people, yet it is
receiving little attention. What is it? It is a proposal to
dramatically diminish a constitutionally protected right by
fundamentally altering America's patent system.
If H.R. 1908, the bill in question, passes, there will be tremendous
long-term negative consequences for our country.
Patent law is thought to be so complicated and esoteric that most
people tune out once they realize that's what the subject is. Yet our
technological genius and the laws protecting and promoting that genius
have been at the heart of America's success as a Nation. America's
technological edge has permitted the American people to have the
highest standard of living in the world and permitted our country to
sail safely through troubled waters, the troubled waters of world wars
and international threats.
{time} 2300
American technology has made all the difference. And it is the
American patent law that has determined what technology, what level of
technology development that America has had. Protecting individual
rights, even of the little guy, has been the hallmark of our country.
Patent rights, the right to own one's creation, are one of those rights
that are written into the United States Constitution. In fact, Benjamin
Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and others, all our
Founding Fathers were not only people that believed in freedom, but
they also believed in technology and the potential of American genius.
Visit Monticello and see what Thomas Jefferson did with the time after
he penned the words of the Declaration of Independence and after he
served as President of the United States. He went back to Monticello
and he spent his time inventing things, inventing pieces of equipment
and technologies that would lift the burden from the shoulders of
labor.
And then there was Benjamin Franklin, again, a man who participated
in the Declaration of Independence as well as the Constitution. He was
the inventor of the bifocal. He was the inventor of the stove that kept
people warm. Until then people only had fireplaces. He had many other
inventions to his name. Yet he was also a man, one of our cherished
Founding Fathers, who helped us create this free Nation. He believed in
freedom and technology and believed that with freedom and technology we
could increase the standard of living of our people, not just the
elite, but of all the American people.
We have had the strongest protection system in terms of patents in
the world; and that is why, in the history of humankind, there has
never been a more innovative or creative people. It didn't just happen.
It happened because in our Constitution, our Founding Fathers saw to it
that the laws protecting one's intellectual creations, both technology
and written communications, that those creative people would own their
creations. No, it's not just the diversity of our society that has
created the wondrous standard of living that we have all bragged about.
This is not simply the diversity of our people and some notion that we
have by coming from all over the world that has created the idea that
all people should have opportunity and provided our people with
opportunity. No, the innovation and progress and opportunity that we've
enjoyed in America can be traced to our law, the law that protected the
property rights of our people, just as we protected the political, just
as we've protected the personal rights of our citizens.
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. But he also invented
interchangeable parts for manufacturing. How did that
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change America? How did that change the world? It uplifted us so people
could have different sets of clothing that they could wear. The common
person was helped by the fact of America's creative genius. Eli Whitney
was a product of the American Constitution.
Cyrus McCormick invented the reaper. Before that people had to carry
heavy pieces of equipment, scythes and reapers that were based on human
strength and not strength of technology. With the invention of the
reaper, people had more food, people had full stomachs.
Samuel Morse invented the telegraph, and from it came, of course, the
telephone. And then there was Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb
and so many of the other inventions. These were not just accidents.
These were created because these people were able to flourish because
they had constitutional protections for their rights of their
invention.
One segment of our population, black Americans, were prolific
inventors. Even at times when their rights were not being recognized,
even when they faced major discrimination in our country, and at that
time, even then, the issue of patent protection for our black citizens
was recognized and because of that, many black Americans excelled in
the area of inventions, men like Jan Matzeliger, who invented a machine
that was used in shoe manufacturing. And before Matzeliger, and he was
a former black slave, before he invented this shoe manufacturing
machine, people in this country and all over the world usually wore one
or two pairs of shoes for their entire life. And it was he that brought
down dramatically, brought down the cost of shoes for the entire
population. One of our product American black inventors.
George Washington Carver, a world respected scientist and inventor,
and so many more in the black community. Why? Because in that era, when
blacks were discriminated against, as I say, we actually respected the
rights of ownership of black inventors and thus they excelled when
their rights were protected.
We are proud of our history of technology, because we know, as
Americans, we have, as we have always known throughout our country's
history, that these inventions that we're talking about, made by
Americans of every background, helped elevate the standard of living of
all Americans. It created more wealth, wealth that was created with
less labor and less burden on our people. It increased the standard of
living of working people in this country so that not only the elite
prospered, but all of the people had a full belly and clothes for their
children.
The opportunity of all people who are part of the American
brotherhood and sisterhood, the well-being of those people can be
traced, not just to our diversity, which is something we celebrate, but
also to the constitutional protection of our rights. And one of those
rights which is so often overlooked is the right of people, the
creators of new ideas, to own those ideas, whether we're talking about
the written word or whether we're talking about technological advances.
And then of course, when we're talking about this, how can anyone
forget the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers. We remember the Wright
brothers. They were two guys who worked in a bicycle shop. They ended
up inventing something just less than 100 years ago, or just about 100
years ago actually, just a few more years than 100 years ago, and they
were told, 110 years ago that it was impossible for them to make this
invention. Yet, they went ahead. The elites were telling them it was
impossible. They went ahead and they spent their own money, their own
time. They saved up. They had very little capital. They were the
ultimate little guys, and they moved ahead and they did finally receive
a patent because they changed the future of humankind, because they
were the ones, of course, who took us from our feet planted on the
ground to taking us off the ground and putting us on the road to the
heavens. Just two ordinary Americans.
We Americans are proud that with our opportunity all people have a
chance and all people can help pull the rest of us up into the heavens
like the Wright brothers.
It was not only the raw muscle of every American. And so often people
mistakenly think that human progress is a result of whether people work
hard or not. That is not why people have higher standards of living.
There are many people all over the world who work hard. They work
strenuously hard. They work 15 hours a day. Their jobs are grueling.
But no matter how hard they work, their society doesn't progress. Their
families don't live any better.
No, hard work is not the only thing. Yes, hard work is part of it,
but ingenuity and creativity, the intellectual part of the equation is
vitally important to the success of any nation. And, yes, the legal
system is also a vital part of that formula that will lead to uplifting
all of humankind and can be seen in the example of the United States.
So, yes, Americans work hard, just as others have. But Americans had
their rights protected under law. And that's what permitted the
innovators and the creators and the technologists to thrive in this
country and what pulled the standard of living of all of our people up.
What was established was a system in our Constitution and with our laws
and our patent system that would protect ingenuity and creativity.
We treated intellectual property, the creation of new technologies,
as we treated property, as we treated personal, and as we've treated
political, rights. And that is what America is all about.
Every person has rights. Now, we didn't always live up to that dream;
and, yes, there was discrimination, terrible discrimination against
black citizens and we always have to recognize that. And against Indian
Americans and others. But we have tried our best, and we are moving
forward trying to perfect our system.
But every American, every American has benefited by the fact that our
technologies have been protected under constitutional law; and thus our
creators, our creative population has managed to bring about a higher
standard of living and opportunities for all Americans.
Today we face a great historical challenge. And this challenge comes
at exactly a time when our country is threatened from abroad
economically, as never before. We must prevail over our economic
competitors and adversaries, or the American people will suffer.
There are people who think of themselves at war with us. We know that
radical Islam thinks they're at war with us. But we also have people
who think they're at war with us economically. They're at war with the
well-being of the American people. They see us and the well-being of
our people as their target. We must win this war, this economic
competition that we are entering, this economic competition based not
on hard work but on technology and creative genius; and if we do not
win this war, our people will lose. Our people will lose especially if
we permit the technology and creative genius of our people to be stolen
by people who are our economic adversaries and to be used to outcompete
our own people. If we lose this battle, our people will suffer. Future
generations will see their standard of living decline, as well as the
safety and strength of our country. If we do not remain technologically
superior, we will find that in the future the livelihood of our people
and the safety of our country will be in jeopardy.
Our economic adversaries, and their allies within the American
business community, and let us note that, that our economic adversaries
have allies in multinational corporations, many of them who are, what,
part of the American business community. But these economic adversaries
are engaged in a systematic attack on our well-being, and thus they
have noticed one of the strongest and most important elements of
America's success has been the patent protection that we have offered
the American people.
Today, multinational corporations, some based here in the United
States, run by an elite whose allegiance is to no country, these people
have tremendous influence near the Nation's Capitol. You can see it
when it comes to China policy. You can see it when it comes to trade
policy. And, now, in their attempt to undermine patent protections, you
can see that in this effort to undermine the constitutional patent
protections that our people have enjoyed for over 200 years.
[[Page H10067]]
There is a corporate elite at play who don't give it a second thought
to move their manufacturing operations to China. Now, here you've got
Americans supposedly, American businessmen. They're moving their
manufacturing to a country run by a Marxist dictatorship. This
corporate elite betrays American values and betrays the American
working people themselves. What? Why do they do this?
Well, they would rather exploit Chinese slave labor with the full
cooperation of a dictatorial Chinese regime, than they would pay the
market rate for the American working person and as well, which is part
of the price, of course, of having a free society in which they are
protected here at home. Yet, they would go to China and make a deal
with the world's worst human rights abuser to set up a manufacturing
unit there. And this very same elite will do that and betray the
American worker in order to make a 25 percent profit rather than a 10
percent or a 5 percent profit at home, while at the same time the
American working people will get their share of the benefit because
they're working in that company. No, the American corporate elite that
goes to China would rather do that. Many of them, by the way, are part
of the electronics industry, as we know. The electronics industry has
moved in a big way to China. They've even, in fact, claimed that, oh,
well if we just have more interaction economically with China, that,
what will happen? Well, China will evolve into a democratic society.
Yet, these same corporate leaders, supposedly Americans, help the
Chinese Government set up a computer system that will aid them in
tracking down democratic opponents of the dictatorship. We know now
that the Falun Gong in China is suffering immense repression, as are
other believers in God. Yet, we have a business elite that doesn't
blink an eye at that and goes there and invests their technology and
their capital in creating manufacturing there.
{time} 2315
Well, people who will do that won't think twice about stealing a
small inventor's or a little guy's invention so that they won't have to
pay royalties to that American inventor. Why should they? If they are
willing to deal with the tyrants and the gangsters in China and betray
the American workers, why would they care about giving royalties to
some inventor? And what are they doing? They are helping steal the
American inventors' products without giving the royalties, and, worse,
they are taking it to China to use in manufacturing facilities over
there that will even put more Americans out of work here.
How could any American do that? Well, they aren't Americans. What
they are, if you get right down to it, they are globalists. Yes, people
have to understand that here we are, our country has evolved into now
this new dichotomy of globalists versus patriots.
Well, put me on the side of the patriots. We are supposed to be
watching out for the interests of the American people. We are not
supposed to be watching out for the American business elite any more
than we are supposed to be watching out for the American worker. They
are supposed to have equal rights. And one of those rights has been the
protection of intellectual property. But the business and corporate
elites that want to move to China, the same ones who are behind this
legislation, H.R. 1908, the electronics industry, want to steal the
technology being developed by the little guy in America so they won't
have to pay royalties. That is what it comes down to. And these same
people who are building the factories in China, the same people who are
giving technology to China, the same people now who want to take the
ideas of American inventors and take them to China and elsewhere
without having to pay royalties, these are the people behind 1908.
The justification for this attack on the patent system, guess what,
it is called harmonization of our laws with the rest of the world. If
you ask those people why do we have to make these fundamental changes
to our patent law? Our patent law has been there for 200 years. They
will tell you that we have to harmonize our law with the rest of the
world and our laws are totally different.
We cannot permit corporate elitists who consider themselves
globalists to mold our policies, especially if it means diminishing the
legal protections for our American citizens, especially those inventors
and creative people who are coming up with the technologies that
Americans are going to need to have if our country is to be prosperous
and secure in the future.
If the globalists are successful, 20 years from now our citizens will
wonder what hit them. Pearl Harbor happened in a moment. Our people
woke up to the threat and they mobilized. Today it is happening slowly,
and the attack is less evident. But rights are being eroded by the
changes in our law that will cause a decreasing standard of living to
our people and damage our way of life, and that damage will be
devastating to the American people in years ahead, and they will never
know what hit them. This attack is being conducted not by bombers in
Pearl Harbor and Hawaii, but it is being done by lobbyists in the
Nation's capital who are out to pillage our wealth and transfer that
wealth and power overseas. You see it everywhere.
Who is watching out for the interests of the American people? We will
let the public determine that. But first we have to get the public's
attention. And these moves on this patent bill have been so quiet. The
vote is going to be Friday, H.R. 1908. They are going to try to slip
this by. One of the steps necessary for them to transfer the wealth and
to cut down this dominance that the American people have over the
global economy, one of the things they have to do to achieve that goal
so we are harmonized with the rest of the world is to destroy our
patent system and make it like the patent system from other countries.
Lobbyists have been hired by well-heeled multinational corporations
and by companies who no longer have any desire to pay for the use of
technology that has been developed by other American citizens, little
guys. They, of course, are not saying we are out to destroy the patent
system. They will be aghast when they hear that I am suggesting they
want to destroy the patent system. They know that is what it is, but
they will act like they are aghast.
Now, there are lots of flaws in our patent system. We hear about a
widespread problem, and there are some problems. But we know that many
of the problems are just being exaggerated. For example, we hear horror
stories concerning companies that are tied up for years in court and
eventually have to relent to trial lawyers in terms about delays in the
system. We hear about that. We hear about examiners who are overworked,
which is true. Our patent examiners are heavily overworked. They aren't
getting the training they need, and they are not getting the pay they
deserve. So we have got some problems in our patent system that we need
to take care of. But that has nothing to do with H.R. 1908.
In reality, of course, some of these problems aren't real. Patent
lawsuits are not a major problem, as people are claiming they are.
Between 1993 and 2005, the number of patent lawsuits versus the number
of patents granted has been steady at around 1.5 percent. In fact, in
2006 only 102 patent cases actually went to trial. So when they say we
have got to do this to correct the lawsuit problem, there isn't a major
lawsuit problem.
But there are real problems that need to be solved. Our patent
examiners, as I said, are overworked and they are underpaid. They need
to be trained. More money that comes from people buying patents, we
need to keep that right at the patent office and train those patent
examiners and give them the money they need so we can hire the top
quality people.
Unfortunately, the legislation making its way through the system does
not correct the problems. The problems are being used as an excuse, but
the proposed changes that we are talking about here are not dealing
with the problems. So there must be some other goal of this
legislation.
So let's understand we need patent legislation that speeds up the
patent process, provides training and compensation for the patent
examiners, and helps us protect our inventors against theft. Yes, we
need to help our inventors protect themselves against foreign threat
and, yes, even domestic
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threat. And we need to put some work into patent reform which will
protect our inventors. Well, the bill that we are talking about has
nothing to do with that. A bill that handled those goals would be
justified and welcomed.
Unfortunately, what we are witnessing is a replay of the illegal
immigration strategy. The American people are crying out for protection
against a virtual invasion of illegal immigrants into our country. The
special interests who benefited by this flood of illegals tried to push
an immigration bill through the Congress that would have made the
situation worse. That's right. They had a bill in the name of illegal
immigration reform that would have made it worse. To confuse the
public, they kept calling it a ``comprehensive'' bill as if it was
designed to fix the problem. Instead, it was designed for one thing and
one thing only. The comprehensive bill for illegal immigration was
designed to give amnesty to all those illegals who came here illegally,
which would have attracted, had we given them that amnesty, tens of
millions of more illegals into our country. So it would have made it
worse. But with a straight face, those who were advocating illegal
immigration reform kept calling it a ``comprehensive'' plan even though
they knew that implied they were reforming the system to make it better
when, in fact, they were going the opposite direction of what the vast
majority of people knew was the problem. And the problem was what? A
huge influx of illegal immigrants into our country, and giving amnesty
would have made it worse.
Well, the same strategy is seemingly being used by those who are
behind the effort to destroy the American patent system. So you will
never hear them say they want to destroy the American patent system the
same way that the advocates of comprehensive immigration would never
admit what they were doing was amnesty. No, they are out to destroy the
patent system as it has worked since the founding of our country.
Instead of arguing their case, they are simply calling it a
``comprehensive'' bill. Does that sound familiar? A ``comprehensive
patent bill,'' that makes it sound like you are going to make it
better. No, you are out to destroy the patent system. A ``comprehensive
immigration bill,'' that sounds like you want to end this immigration
influx into our country. No, it is going to make it worse. Well, that
is why the American people are a little bit confused.
Who is watching out for the American people? The American people have
got to pay attention to this.
This bill, H.R. 1809, is similar to the one that we barely beat back
10 years ago. I called that the ``Steal American Technologies Act,''
and that was back 10 years ago. And, believe me, we were up against the
most powerful corporations. We were just a ragtag group of people.
Marcy Kaptur on that side of the aisle and Steny Hoyer helped us out as
well, Don Manzullo and myself and just a couple others. We fought these
special interests, and no one thought we had a chance. But we won. And
we won because the American people got wind of what was happening, and
we won. We beat it back, and that was in 1997. But here we go again
with a bill that looks almost exactly like that bill in so many ways.
So I will just call H.R. 1809 the ``Steal American Technologies Act,
Part Two.''
First and foremost, we have to, of course, look at what does H.R.
1908 do? First and foremost, it is designed to weaken the patent
protection of the American inventor. So let's just note that right off.
The purpose of the bill is to weaken the patent protection, the
constitutional rights that the American inventor has had since the
founding of our country.
I support real reform, as do the others who oppose this bill, but the
proposed changes in H.R. 1908 will cause the collapse of the American
patent system, the system that has sustained America for 200 years, and
that is the real purpose behind this bill. Make no mistake about it.
For the Record I would submit a list of those major people and
organizations who are opposed to the bill, Mr. Speaker.
At this point in my remarks, I submit that list for the Record.
Organizations and Companies With Objections to Berman Patent
Legislation (H.R. 1908)
3M, Abbott Accelerated Technologies, Inc., Acorn
Cardiovascular Inc., Adams Capital Management, Adroit Medical
Systems, Inc., AdvaMed, Advanced Diamond Technologies, Inc.,
Advanced Medical Optics, Inc., Advanced Neuromodulation
Systems, Inc., Aero-Marine Company, AFL-CIO, African American
Republican Leadership Council, AIPLA--American Intellectual
Property Law Association.
Air Liquide, Air Products, ALD NanoSolutions, Inc., ALIO
Industries, Allergan, Inc., Almyra, Inc., AmberWave Systems
Corporation, American Conservative Union (The), American
Intellectual property Law, Association (AIPLA), American Seed
Trade, Americans for Sovereignty.
Americans for the Preservation of Liberty, Amylin
Pharmaceuticals, AngioDynamics, Inc., Applied Medical,
Applied Nanotech, Inc., Argentis Pharmaceuticals, LLC,
Arizona Biolndustry Association, ARYx Therapeutics, Ascenta
Therapeutics, Inc., Association of University Technology
Managers (AUTM).
Asthmatx, Inc., AstraZeneca, Aware, Inc., Baxa
Corporation, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, BayBio, Beckman
Coulter, BIO--Biotechnology Industry Organization, BioCardia,
Inc., BIOCOM, Biogen Idec, Biomedical Association, BioOhio,
Bioscience Institute, Biotechnology Council of New Jersey.
Blacks for Economic Security Trust Fund, BlazeTech
Corporation, Boston Scientific Corporation, Bridgestone
Americas Holding, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb, BuzzLogic,
California Healthcare Institute, California Healthcare
Institute (The), Canopy Ventures, Carbide Derivative
Technologies, Cardiac Concepts, Inc., CardioDynamics,
Cargill, Inc., Cassie-Shipherd Group (The), Caterpillar,
Celgene Corporation, Cell Genesys, Inc., Center 7, Inc.,
Center for Small Business and the Environment (The), Centre
for Security Policy, Cephalon, CheckFree, Christian Coalition
of America.
Cincinnati Sub-Zero Products, Coalition for 21st Century
Patent Reform (The), Coalitions for America, CogniTek
Management Systems, Inc., Colorado Bioscience Association,
Conceptus, Inc., CONNECT, Connecticut United for Research
Excellence, Cornell University, Corning Incorporated, Coronis
Medical Ventures, Council for America, CropLife America,
Cryptography Research, Cummins-Allison Corporation.
Cummins Inc., CVRx Inc., Dais Analytic Corporation,
Dartmouth Regional Technology Center, Inc., Declaration
Alliance, Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals, Digimarc Corporation,
DirectPointe, Dow Chemical Company, Dupont, Dura-Line
Corporation, Dynatronics Co., Eagle Forum, Eastman Chemical
Company, Economic Development Center, Edwards Lifesciences,
Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Electronics for Imaging, Eli
Lilly and Company, Ellman Innovations LLC, Enterprise
Partners Venture Capital, Evalve, Inc.
Exxon Mobile Corporation, Fallbrook Technologies Inc.,
FarSounder, Inc. Footnote.com.
Gambro BCT, General Electric, Genomic Health, Inc., Gen-
Probe Incorporated, Genzyme, Georgia Biomedical Partnership,
Glacier Cross, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline, Glenview State Bank,
Hawaii Science & Technology Council, HealthCare Institute of
New Jersey, HeartWare, Inc., Helius, Inc., Henkel
Corporation, Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc.
iBIO, Imago Scientific Instruments, Impulse Dynamics (USA),
Inc., Indiana Health Industry Forum, Indiana University,
Innovation Alliance, Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers (IEEE)-USA, InterDigital Communications
Corporation, Intermolecular, Inc., International Association
of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), Invitrogen
Corporation, Iowa Biotechnology Association, ISTA
Pharmaceuticals, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Johnson &
Johnson, Leadership Institute (The), Let Freedom Ring, Life
Science Alley, LITMUS, LLC.
LSI Corporation, Lux Capital Management, Luxul Corporation,
Maryland Taxpayers' Association.
Masimo Corporation, Massachusetts Biotechnology Council,
MassMEDIC, Maxygen Inc., MDMA--Medical Device Manufacturer's
Association, Medical College of Wisconsin, MedImmune, Inc.,
Medtronic, Merck, Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc., Metabolex,
Inc., Metabolix, Inc., Metacure (USA), Inc., MGI Pharma Inc.,
MichBio, Michigan Small Tech Association, Michigan State
University, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Milliken &
Company, Mohr, Davidow Ventures, Monsanto Company, Motorola.
NAM--National Association of Manufacturers,
NanoBioMagnetics, Inc. (NBMI), NanoBusiness Alliance (The),
NanoInk, Inc., NanoIntegris, Inc., Nanomix, Inc., Nanophase
Technologies, NanoProducts Corporation, Nanosys, Inc.,
Nantero, Inc., National Center for Public Policy Research,
Nektar Therapeutics, Neoconix, Inc., Neuro Resource Group
(NRG), Neuronetics, Inc., NeuroPace, New England Innovation
Alliance, New Hampshire Biotechnology Council, New Hampshire
Department of Economic Development, New Mexico Biotechnical
and Biomedical Association, New York Biotechnology
Association.
Norseman Group (The), North Carolina Biosciences
Organization, North Carolina State University, North Dakota
State University, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Northwestern
University, Novartis Corporation, Novasys Medical Inc.,
NovoNordisk, NUCRYST Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NuVasive,
[[Page H10069]]
Inc., Nuvelo, Inc., Ohio State University, OpenCEL, LLC,
Palmetto Biotechnology Alliance, Patent Cafe.com, Inc.,
Patent Office Professional Association, Pennsylvania Bio,
Pennsylvania State University, PepsiCo, Inc., Pfizer, PhRMA--
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America,
Physical Sciences Inc., PointeCast Corporation, Power
Innovations International, PowerMetal Technologies, Inc.,
Preformed Line Products, Procter & Gamble, Professional
Inventors' Alliance, ProRhythm, Inc., Purdue University, Pure
Plushy Inc., QUALCOMM Inc.
QuantumSphere, Inc., QuesTek Innovations LLC, Radiant
Medical, Inc., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Research
Triangle Park, NC, Retractable Technologies, Inc.,
RightMarch.com, S & C Electric Company, Salix
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Sangamo Biosciences, Inc., ScanDisk
Corporation, Semprius, Inc., Small Business Association of
Michigan--Economic Development Center, Small Business
Exporters, Association of the United States (The).
Small Business Technology Council (The), Smart Bomb
Interactive, Smile Reminder, SmoothShapes, Inc., Solera
Networks, South Dakota Biotech Association, Southern
California Biomedical Council, Spiration, Inc., St. Louis
University, Standup Bed Company (The), State of New Hampshire
Department of Resources and Economic Development, Stella
Group, Ltd. (The), StemCells, SurgiQuest, Inc.
Symyx Technologies, Inc., Tech Council of Maryland/MdBio,
Technology Patents & Licensing, Tennessee Biotechnology
Association, Tessera, Inc., Texas A&M, Texas Healthcare,
Texas Instruments, Three Arch Partners.
United Technologies, University of California System,
University of Illinois, University of Iowa, University of
Maryland, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota,
University of New Hampshire, University of North Carolina
System, University of Rochester, University of Utah,
University of Wisconsin-Madison, US Business and Industry
Council, US Council for International Business.
USGI Medical, USW--United Steelworkers, Vanderbilt
University and Medical Center, Virent Energy Systems, Inc.,
Virginia Biotechnology Association, Visidyne, Inc.,
VisionCare Opthamalogic Technologies, Inc., Washington
Biotechnology & Biomedical Association, Washington
University, WaveRx, Inc.
Wayne State University, Wescor, Inc., Weyerhaeuser, Wilson
Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Wisconsin Alumni Research
Foundation (WARF), Wisconsin Biotechnology and Medical Device
Association, Wyeth.
That list includes some large companies. It includes biotech
companies, for example, who are putting out so much of the technology
that we will need for the future. It includes pharmaceuticals who know
that there are companies around the world who are waiting to steal the
product after they have spent hundreds of millions of American dollars
into developing new pharmaceuticals. Almost all of our major
universities are against this patent bill because they themselves are
developing new technologies and they know that the new patent bill will
undermine, undermine, their efforts to create these new technologies
and to benefit from the technologies, as they should because they are
the creators. The patent examiners are against this legislation. Labor
unions are against this. The AFL-CIO is against this legislation. That
is why we have another bipartisan coalition with Ms. Kaptur and Judge
Hastings and others who are on our side in this battle. It is a
bipartisan Republican-Democrat coalition. It is the patriots versus the
globalists.
{time} 2330
So why are so many opposed to it? Perhaps it's easiest to understand
the issue, because if you talk about what this bill does in terms of
disclosure, and what does that mean, in this bill it's called
publication.
From the founding of our country until recent years, it has been
mandated that every patent application be held confidential until the
patent was issued. So if you're an inventor and you've got an idea and
you've developed it, you filed the application; but you know that
that's going to be held secret. In fact, patent examiners could be put
in jail for felonies if they release that information.
Well, this, of course, is dramatically different than the rest of the
world. In the rest of the world, after 18 months, in Japan and Europe,
if you file for a patent, even if you don't get the patent, they're
going to publish it for everybody to see. And the inventor is so
vulnerable, they have to give up usually almost all the rights to the
things they've invented. That's why you don't see the Japanese
inventing many things; they perfect things, but they don't invent them.
In short, this bill, H.R. 1908, the Steal American Technologies Act,
the sequel, now get into this, this is really important and it's easy
to understand. This bill would eliminate the right of confidentiality
to American inventors. What does that mean? H.R. 1908 would mandate the
publication of all patent applications 18 months after the patent is
applied for whether or not the patent has been granted.
Does everybody understand what we're talking about here? We're
talking about American inventors up until now have known, if they so
chose to do this, they would not have to reveal their secrets until the
patent was given to them. Thus they had some legal protection. This
bill will take that right away from the American inventors so that if
they apply for a patent on very sophisticated technological
breakthroughs, the Chinese, the Indians, the Japanese, the Koreans,
they will have all have the information and be in manufacturing before
our small inventors even get their patent.
With the Steal American Technologies Act, does that sound like that's
what I'm describing? That's exactly what we're describing. We are
inviting the foreign thieves to come in and take our most precious
technological advances and use those technologies against us to put our
people out of work. That's why the labor unions are against this bill.
That's why the Democratic Party should be against this bill and the
Republican Party should be against it. That's why patriots should be
against it. It is easy for everyone to understand that.
Those pushing H.R. 1908 want China, Japan, Korea, India and others to
have every detail of developing technologies and of our creative ideas
even before the patents have been issued. This legislation will
facilitate China, India, and other countries in their efforts to steal
our creative genius. First they will say, oh, well the inventor then
could come back and sue these companies overseas who are using their
creation that they've gotten by taking it from the information that was
published. Oh, give me a break. Does anyone really believe that an
American inventor can go to China or India and can sue after they've
been in production for years? They can't even get the information of
how much has been produced over there at that time. So, yes, this is
the Steal American Technologies Act, and we have got to stop them.
Secondly, this bill changes the fundamental concept of the American
patent system, another fundamental concept which this will end up with
very dramatic and confusing consequences, although it is a little hard
to understand. Traditionally, ownership rights go to those inventors
who were the first ones to invent the technology in question. That does
not necessarily mean that they were the first one to actually file some
type of patent application that dealt with that particular issue or
that particular type of technology. No. If someone actually had an
invention of a machine, their patent, if they actually invented it and
they could prove that, it wasn't the first to file that counts, it was
the person who actually invented something. That was a principle in our
system. And basically what it did is it prevented businesses and
individuals from having to, for every time they made a little bit of
progress, to go out and try to apply for another patent.
Because with this system, what this bill will do, it will make sure
that businesses now will be flooding the Patent Office every time they
make one little step forward towards an eventual goal, rather than
waiting for the goal to be achieved and have a complete new system that
can be justified to have a patent.
So the people of the Patent Office believe that this change, which
seems innocuous, from something that has worked well for the United
States for 200 years, has worked well for us, and now they want to
change it so that we can be like the rest of the world supposedly,
while the rest of the world, the only people who can operate at this
level are these big multinational corporations, the very elite rich
guys. No. We want our regular Americans to be able to operate under
this system. And making it first-to-file makes it so much more
expensive because you have to apply for so many more patents, the
little guy gets frozen out. Of course those people that are pushing
this harmonization know that very well. They
[[Page H10070]]
just don't care about the little guy because they are Goliath, and the
little guy is just a little David down there.
I am very happy that the history of the United States Government is
the history of us being for the little guy over the big guy, that we
protect the rights of the little guy. That's why our patent law is
different than the patent law in Japan, where economic shoguns control
their economy.
The third, H.R. 1908 fundamentally changes the legal criteria in
which patents can be challenged. It provides numerous ways in which
large companies, foreigners, and other infringers can attack and add
costs to the inventors. So we've added all sorts of new ways for those
guys to come in and attack that small inventor. We have opened up the
system to the point where the inventor can be attacked before the
patent has been granted, and also, the inventor can then, also with
this legislation, be attacked after the patent has been granted. And
this again changes those rules by offering new avenues to attack the
small guy. Of course the big guys don't care; they've got lots of
lawyers working for them. What this will mean is the big guys can beat
down the little guys just like they do in Japan. Don't we want to
harmonize with Japan? Don't we want to have a society like Japan where
ordinary citizens never dream about increasing their standard of living
and rising up and having their children live better? No.
This bill is a catastrophe for the little inventor, and that's why we
have so many people who have opposed this bill, but yet it keeps moving
forward. It keeps moving forward because there are special interests
who will make huge sums of money by not having to may royalties,
especially in the electronics industry, which is different. Remember,
they are different, the electronics industry than pharmaceuticals and
biotech and the universities and the others and the smaller inventor.
Why are they different? Because what they do is they put together a
product with many different components, all of which you have to pay a
royalty in order to use them. They don't want to pay those royalties.
They want to steal it from the little guy. Well, I'm sorry, the
electronics industry has to pay for what they use. They're not going to
set up a system that undermines the protection that the little guys,
that we've had for 200 years in this country.
This bill complicates efforts to establish willfulness on the part of
an infringer. So what happens is you have undermined some of the legal
criteria used in the case if a small inventor or someone does go after
an infringer. This bill changes some of the actual criteria that are
being used. It creates a re-examined practice for facilitating attacks
by infringers on legitimate patent holders. In short, this bill allows
large companies to swallow costs and risks so that it can beat down the
rightful owners of technology.
Now, it seems like a horror story to America's inventors, but we are
told what is really going on here, of course, as I keep saying, it's an
effort to harmonize our laws. Now, doesn't that sound nice? And doesn't
comprehensive reform sound nice? Just like comprehensive reform sounded
good for the immigration bill. We knew what that was now, don't we?
Comprehensive reform was a way to give amnesty and destroy our
protections against illegal immigration without having to ever confront
the argument.
This comprehensive reform of the patent system is the same strategy.
Yes, they are going to harmonize the law with the rest of the world.
That's harmony. That sounds like a wonderful word. And
``comprehensive,'' that also sounds great.
Well, we have had the strongest patent protection of any country on
this planet, just as we had the same and the strongest protection for
the rights of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and other rights
that we hold sacred. What would happen if in order to harmonize the
freedom of religion and freedom of speech for the rest of the world, we
were told that the protection of our freedoms that we now enjoy need to
be diminished so that they could be harmonized with the rest of the
world?
Let's say we could be like the people of Singapore or some other
country that is not necessarily democratic, but is not a dictatorship
either. What would happen if the American people were told that? What
would happen, I would tell you, there would be a revolution through the
United States of America. You are not going to diminish the rights of
the American people in order to harmonize the law internationally.
Forget it. I don't care if it's personal rights, political rights,
property rights or technology and creative rights like we're talking
about tonight. The patriots in this country are not going to see their
rights diminished in order to create a new world order where we can all
live in harmony with the elite telling us what to do.
However, the move to harmonize patent law, of course, is going
smoothly right now, unlike it would if we tried to say we're going to
bring down and diminish all those other rights, because there would be
a revolution right now. But with patent law it's going a lot more
smoothly.
In fact, it's coming up to a vote Friday and most people have no idea
it's coming to the floor, or most Americans and most people even in
this body have no idea of the significance of H.R. 1908. Why? Because
it's being kept very low key. There's no fanfare. Not many people can
even understand it. As I say, they tune out as soon as they hear the
word ``patent law.'' All of this, of course, while the freedom and
well-being of future generations is being frittered away.
We are on the edge. If this bill passes, it will have dramatic impact
on the well-being of average Americans. The fact is we have had the
strongest patent rights protection, and that is why we have had more
innovation and a higher standard of living than any other people in the
world. The common man here has the opportunity that common people in
other parts of the world do not have because America has had
technological superiority, and we've had a system based on protecting
individual rights, the individual rights of the little guy, not just
the big guys.
If our rights to patent protection are diminished, which is what H.R.
1908 will do, if we do that, if we diminish the rights of our patent
protection in order to harmonize with the rest of the world, we will
end up with the same type of opportunity and the same type of rights
that they have in Third World countries.
Is that what we want? Do we want our people to have harmonized
rights, new world order so we can all live like they live in Third
World countries? Perhaps if someone is a corporate elitist who lives in
a gated community, that might sound good. Hey, we can have all kinds of
peons just walking around who will do my bidding and I can send my kids
to private school. We live behind a gated community, I can actually
have a driver and my kids can have nannies and we could have people
cleaning up the yard and I can have my manufacturing facility in China,
where they don't care if they're polluting the air or not. Boy, I'll
tell you, that doesn't hurt those guys because they don't identify,
when you say Third World country, they don't say, gee, I would be
living worse off, they think it's the other guy, the little guy. And
they're right, it's the little guys. Yeah. These people don't even want
to pay royalties.
The electronics industry, what this is based on, does not want to pay
royalties to the little guys. If you want to see anything more about
this, you want to know the historic background of it, go down to the
Nation's Capitol and you will find a statue to Philo Farnsworth. Philo
Farnsworth was the guy who invented the picture tube. RCA, Mr. Sarnoff,
the president of RCA, tried to steal that technology from Mr.
Farnsworth because he was just a little guy. And for 20 years they
fought it out, the biggest, most powerful corporation. Instead of just
paying Mr. Farnsworth a royalty and giving him some credit, they had to
steal it from him, to beat him down in the ground and smash him like a
bug. But luckily we live in the United States of America. That case
went all the way to the Supreme Court; and God bless America, the
Supreme Court sided with Farnsworth instead of this RCA that tried to
dominate this man who gave them the genius that they needed to make the
picture tube work. We wouldn't have had it. They were going in the
exactly the wrong direction, but they couldn't even give him the
credit.
That's what the corporate elite thinks about us little guys. That's
the way they do it. That's why they want to change constitutional
protections,
[[Page H10071]]
make it a new world order. That's why we have all of this talk about
globalism and all these international bodies that we're going to give
power to because our corporate elite doesn't feel threatened by that,
but each and every American should because none of those people
overseas are going to watch out for us.
H.R. 1908 is coming up on Friday. It's a major attack on a
constitutional right that's been part of the American system, part of
the American system since the founding of your country. It's written
into our Constitution.
{time} 2345
We cannot make those changes and expect things are going to stay the
same. But we beat this before. Marcy Kaptur, Dana Rohrabacher, Don
Manzullo and a few others, we beat back this attempt. But we did it
because the American people called their congressmen and said, ``Don't
vote for the H.R. 1908 Steal American Technologies Act.'' That is what
they did before, and we won. We contacted our congressmen.
That is how we beat comprehensive immigration reform. We can beat
this bill, too, just like that. We can watch out for America if the
PATRIOT Act and we watch out for the little guy together, if all of us
come together and watch out for the little guy, all of our rights will
be protected. That is what America is all about.
I beg my fellow Members to pay attention to this vote. I beg the
American people to pay attention to this vote. There will be dramatic
changes in our life and the opportunity our children will face and the
safety of our country if we change this fundamental of our law.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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