Bachmann Statement after Voting Against America Invents Act
Yesterday, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN-06) cast a vote against H.R. 1249, the America Invents Act, because the bill will drastically alter the Constitutional and traditional American patent process. Bachmann said:
“I could not in good conscience vote for the America Invents Act, knowing it will overturn two centuries of legal precedent and suppress a long history of American innovation. Our country’s unique patent system protecting inventors finds its basis in our Constitution that ‘Congress shall have Power...To Promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Rights to their respective Writings and Discoveries.’
“Our country’s narrative would be substantially different if our Founding Fathers had protected the rights of those persons ‘first-to-file’ rather than the rights of inventors. The America Invents Act follows the European-style of ‘first-to-file’ instead of ‘first-to-invent’. This means, when securing a patent, the government gives the upper hand to those who can afford to navigate the bureaucratic maze, in turn taking away the rights of the true inventor. This bill harms small businesses, start-up companies and individual inventors, and instead provides luxury legal protections to corporations, multi-national organizations and attorneys.
“We already learned this week that jobless benefits claims are on the rise. While some reforms may have been needed to update the practices at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, I believe passage of this bill will stifle the innovation of American job creators.”
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“I could not in good conscience vote for the America Invents Act, knowing it will overturn two centuries of legal precedent and suppress a long history of American innovation. Our country’s unique patent system protecting inventors finds its basis in our Constitution that ‘Congress shall have Power...To Promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Rights to their respective Writings and Discoveries.’
“Our country’s narrative would be substantially different if our Founding Fathers had protected the rights of those persons ‘first-to-file’ rather than the rights of inventors. The America Invents Act follows the European-style of ‘first-to-file’ instead of ‘first-to-invent’. This means, when securing a patent, the government gives the upper hand to those who can afford to navigate the bureaucratic maze, in turn taking away the rights of the true inventor. This bill harms small businesses, start-up companies and individual inventors, and instead provides luxury legal protections to corporations, multi-national organizations and attorneys.
“We already learned this week that jobless benefits claims are on the rise. While some reforms may have been needed to update the practices at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, I believe passage of this bill will stifle the innovation of American job creators.”
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