Political Quotes

“I think this could be boiled down very simply. We have a mind-set that thinks publication is an open door to thievery and to stealing our secrets. There is another philosophy, it is in our Constitution. It says that if you want to get a patent, that gives you exclusive rights to your invention for a period of years, and then the tradeoff for that exclusivity is disclosure to the world, so the world may benefit from this wonderful insight that you have now patented. That is the tradeoff. Publication is the disclosure so the world may benefit, but meanwhile, you have a period of years for which you may exploit fully your rights to the patent. That is the tradeoff. Publication is protection, because once your idea is published it is notice to the world you were there first; you have been there, you have done that, and it is yours. If anybody wishes to infringe on your rights, which are called provisional rights, not a patent yet but equivalent to a patent, they are subject to damages. So you are protected. Meanwhile, Mr. Chairman, the foreign inventor, and 45 percent of the applications in our country, where we produce all these Nobel laureates, most of whom have an accent, not all, most, we then publish in our country, as they publish over there, so we all have that so-called level playing field. But the most important thing I want to say, Mr. Chairman, is that we have seen that CRS report waved around as often as we have heard about hangnails or toenails.…”