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The right of inventors to own their inventions is a constitutional right of Americans that was written into our U.S. Constitution even before the more famous rights of freedom of speech and religion. This right of inventors is uniquely American: it was an original creation of the Founding Fathers and it's still unique in the world today. That's why the overwhelming majority (some say 95%) of the world's great inventions are American. American superiority in inventions and innovations is a principal factor in our world leadership and standard of living that is the envy of the world. The U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8 states: "The Congress shall have Power ... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries." That means inventors own their intellectual property absolutely for about 17 years. This is what incentivizes the inventor, gives him time to perfect his invention, raise the cash necessary to produce it, and recoup his costs. After 17 years, anyone else can make and sell the same product. Inventing new medicines illustrates the value of our patent system. It takes 10 to 15 years to develop a new drug; the cost of bringing a new drug to market is upwards of $800 million, and the failure rate is high. Patent protection makes the risk worthwhile. The powerful interests that promote globalism, either in economic or political terms, are constantly trying to whittle down the U.S. system so other countries can steal our inventions and innovations. They call this "harmonizing" with other countries. We don't want to be harmonized with other countries -- we have the best system that produces the best results. A so-called Patent "reform" bill now pending in Congress would tremendously damage our unique patent system and inventors' intellectual property rights. This "reform" bill would require the U.S. Patent Office to post online all patent applications 18 months after they are filed even though it takes the Patent Office 31 months, on average, to grant a patent. This means that all the scientific details of inventors' precious creations would be broadcast to the world without the legal protection of a patent, thereby giving "patent pirates" all over the world many months to steal the invention and go into production with cheap labor. The U.S. patent system has produced great results for more than 200 years, rewarding all sectors of the U.S. economy including small inventors, universities, start-up firms, emerging technologies, agriculture, the pharmaceutical industry, small businesses, and manufacturers of every size. The proposed "reform" bill will advantage foreigners and a few multinationals at the expense of inventors. Congress should not pass a bill that will weaken U.S. patent law, reduce the financial incentives to innovate, and destroy the rewards that motivate inventors, entrepreneurs and scientists. |
