Political Quotes

“Woman, I thank the gentleman from Virginia. When we look at the cost, not just of litigation, but of companies having to consult with lawyers at times because of completely frivolous letters that they get that are vague with regard to what the abuses are, the damage is not only to the company that receives the message; the damage is to all consumers. The extra price is simply passed along to all of us who use goods and services in a digital economy. This bill makes an important step forward for bringing our patent process into the 21st century, taking into account digital innovation. There is a long way to go. When our patent system was first put together for mechanical innovation, for which it still works, people didn't even know what software or biological innovation was. We have come a long way. I think we have learned a lot over that time. One thing we have learned is that we need to fine-tune how software and digital innovation interact with our intellectual property protections. This bill takes an important step in this direction. While it doesn't wholly fix our patent system, it will undeniably deter abusive patent suits that are brought by patent entities and trolls that raise prices for consumers, destroy jobs, are particularly onerous on start-up businesses and entrepreneurs, and have essentially a tax across our entire economy on innovation and job growth.…”