William Pryor: “I will take a very few moments this afternoon to refresh my colleagues' memories as to why we are here again to act on…”

“I will take a very few moments this afternoon to refresh my colleagues' memories as to why we are here again to act on the GATT issue. When the Congress passed the GATT legislation, we made two changes to U.S. patent law. First, all patents were extended from 17 to 20 years in length. That is the law today for all patents in every industry in this country. Second, we adopted a grandfather provision which permitted generic competitors in all industries to go to the market on the original 17-year date if they had made a substantial investment and if they paid a royalty to the patent holder. But according to the U.S. Trade Representative, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Patent and Trademark Office, the Congress accidentally--and I underline ``accidentally''--omitted a conforming amendment in the GATT legislation. The Congressional Record also documents our very clear intent to apply the GATT treaty universally without any special exceptions. Mr. President, as a result of our error and this missing amendment, a single industry has now been exempted from the GATT grandfather provision.”