Political Quotes

“Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, this bill is a win for small businesses and small inventors. Small businesses may qualify for reduced application fees when applying at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. However, under 35 U.S.C. sections 41 and 123, a small business may claim small- entity or micro-entity status. For example, the standard cost of filing a utility patent is $320. A small entity, however, pays just one-half of that, $128; and a micro entity is charged only $64. When Congress passed the Unleashing American Innovators Act in 2023, the law required the United States Patent and Trademark Office director to impose punitive fines on entities falsely asserting or certifying entitlement to these reduced fees. This was intended to deter unscrupulous actors from claiming the benefit for which they did not qualify. However, in that bill, we granted no exceptions under existing laws for those who made an honest error in good faith. For example, if an employee is mistakenly categorized as a contractor rather than an employee, a good-faith mistake could cause them to claim the wrong status. Or if there is a mistake in information provided by another company that is a licensee, that could also result in that. The impact of these punitive fines would be disproportionate to the honest mistake.…”