On the recordMarch 3, 2011
I rise to submit for the Record some of the materials I have quoted from during the Senate's debate on the first-to-file provisions of the America Invents Act. These materials are produced by the National Association of Manufacturers and by the 21st Century Coalition for Patent Reform, an industry group that has been the leading advocate for the bill. They offer a detailed explanation of and case for the bill's shift from the current first-to-invent system to a first-to-file system of establishing patent priority. Any language that dilutes, delays or deletes FITF will gut meaningful patent reform. An amendment to dilute, delay or delete the first-inventor-to-file provisions of S. 23 would effectively gut the substance of the America Invents Act. The Coalition opposes any such amendment and, were such an amendment to pass, we would oppose passage of the stripped-down bill that would result. The first-inventor-to-file provisions currently in S. 23 form the lynchpin that makes possible the quality improvements that S. 23 promises.
