Tom Latham: “H.R. 6427 has no budgetary impact at all. This bill would raise from 5 percent to 15 percent the percentage of patent…”

“H.R. 6427 has no budgetary impact at all. This bill would raise from 5 percent to 15 percent the percentage of patent royalties that can be retained by the government-owned, contractor-operated labs and universities and nonprofits with annual budgets of $40 million or less in any given fiscal year under the patent laws. The bill would provide relief to smaller contracts, and incentivize these labs and universities to reinvest in their research and educational operations. The bill would only raise the ceiling for very small budgets. The majority of these contracts have much larger budgets of $100 million or more, and for those current larger budgets the 5 percent threshold would remain. This bill has no opposition, and ensures that these contracts have the necessary funding to continue their successful pursuit of revolutionary inventions by keeping a larger percentage of the patent royalty. The thrust of this bill is to give incentives for smaller institutions and labs to continue investing in research and development. Raising the ceiling to 15 percent for these smaller contracts is fair.”