Dana Rohrabacher: “today I have submitted to Congress legislation which will restore to the American people the patent rights that have…”

“today I have submitted to Congress legislation which will restore to the American people the patent rights that have been protected by law in our country since the ratification of our Constitution. Now, I say restore to the American people because unbeknownst to our population, and I might say unbeknownst to many Members of Congress, over these last few years our patent rights have been under attack and that attack has already greatly diminished the patent protection, the rights that our people have had in the area of intellectual property rights for their inventions, to control their products and their genius, the protection they have had since the founding of our country. This has been, already, as I say, let me repeat, greatly diminished. To be specific, we as a people have already lost our right to a guaranteed patent term. Now, that may sound a bit innocuous, because most Americans do not know what I am talking about. A guaranteed patent term? Yes, Americans, from the founding of our country until just 2 years ago, had a right to a guaranteed term where they would control and own their inventions.”