On the recordMarch 2, 2011
I don't often agree with the organization Gun Owners of America, a group that thinks the National Rifle Association is too liberal. But I do agree with them on this issue. They are part of a coalition of 23 conservative organizations that wrote to the leaders about this, arguing: ``Our competitors should have to `harmonize up' to our superior intellectual property regime, rather than our having to weaken our patent system and `harmonize down' to their levels.'' Other signatories on this letter include Phyllis Schlafly of the Eagle Forum; Edwin Meese III, former Attorney General under President Reagan; the American Conservative Union; and the Christian Coalition. I think this is really a battle between the small inventors beginning in the garage, like those who developed the Apple computer that was nowhere, and who, through the first-to-invent system, were able to create one of the greatest companies in the world. America's great strength is the cutting-edge of innovation. The first-to-invent system has served us well. If it is not broke, don't fix it. I don't really believe it is broke.
