[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 92 (Friday, June 24, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1206]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          AMERICA INVENTS ACT

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                               speech of

                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 22, 2011

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1249) to 
     amend title 35, United States Code, to provide for patent 
     reform:

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Chair, America's patent system and the 
protection of intellectual property is an important source of 
innovation and national strength for our country. For that reason, any 
patent reform proposal must be judged based on its ability to improve 
patent quality, reduce the current backlog and provide patent holders 
greater certainty with respect to their patent rights. On that score, I 
believe the America Invents Act, on balance, achieves that objective.
  In particular, our office received a number of calls regarding the 
proposed change to a first-inventor-to-file system. A variety of 
stakeholders--from the U.S. Patent Office to large multinational 
companies to biotech firms and angel investors in my district to the 
academic research community to independent inventors on both sides of 
this issue--weighed in with their respective points of view. In the 
final analysis, I concluded that the first-inventor-to-file standard in 
today's legislation will provide greater certainty for innovators, 
produce stronger patents and enhance our nation's economic 
competitiveness.

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