U.S. Patent Law Attacked by Global “Harmonizers”

Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, July 29, 2011
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. When the Patent Acts of 1790 and 1793 passed giving patents to “the first and true inventor,” Americans could rest assured their inventions would be legally protected. Chief Justice Marshall upheld those laws in 1813 when he ruled that the Constitution guarantees the “exclusive” right “to the inventor from the moment of invention.” Then, the 1833 Supreme Court upheld laws vesting “the exclusive right in the inventor only.” Three years later, the 1836 Patent Act used the words “original and true inventor” and “original and first inventor.”

This month President Obama said U.S. patent laws are a problem that must be fixed. Liberals want treaties and foreign laws to override the constitutional protection of American inventors. Their goals are the same: establish an international patent system that globally “harmonizes” our patent law, which they are trying to do with two bills now being considered in Congress.

H.R. 1249 passed the House 304 to 117 on June 23rd and S.23 passed the Senate 95 to 5 after a quick hearing that did NOT include a single inventor, small business owner, venture capital person or constitutional authority. As they say here in Georgia, that bill was “greased.”

S. 23 seems to have been abandoned in favor of H.R. 1249 that’s now in the Senate. Since the bills were not identical, the fate of H.R. 1249 will be decided in the Senate, where it’s already on the legislative calendar and could be called up for a vote at any time.

One of the most astonishing things about this is the willingness of Congress to abandon American laws and constitutional protections, so “first-to-file” individuals can receive patents instead of “first-to-invent” inventors. The “first-to-file” plan favors foreign inventors and big corporations whose well-funded lawyers can more readily prepare documents and get to a government patent office to file papers first.

I was stunned to learn that both our senators voted FOR this change. They must be asked to vote NO on H.R. 1249 when it comes up in the Senate. I’ll let you know when it’s time to call them. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.