Political Quotes

“There are a lot of problems with this bill as we have heard about already. In fact, on the wall of my office here in Washington, I have two pictures, among many. One is a picture of W. Edwards Deming and myself, taken just before he passed away in 1993-- the real inventor of Lee Manufacturing. The other is of Dr. Ray Damadian, the inventor of the MRI who, when examining this legislation, said if the new changes had taken place in the patent law, had they been part of the patent system when he invented the MRI, the MRI never would have been invented. He knows more than anybody how flawed this bill is. I want to focus in particular on section 10 of the bill, which allows the Director of the Patent Office to set fees. I'm very concerned about this because, in the last patent fight, in 2004, when I chaired the House Small Business Committee, in return for supporting higher fees with a reduced rate structure for small businesses, the provision in that bill allowing the PTO Director to set fees was removed. {time} 1540 This new bill abrogates that hard-won compromise and allows the director of the PTO to set the fees. It is not wise for the legislative branch to give up more power and authority to the executive branch. I know it's inconvenient to have Congress set fees, but that's the job of Congress, not the job of an unelected bureaucrat.…”