Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Chairperson, I rise in reluctant support of this bill, the Innovation Act. The bill addresses the issue of patent trolls suing large companies, small businesses, and retailers over vague patents and using the cost of litigation as a weapon of extortion to secure settlement fees. The bill is real; the problem is real; and addressing it is important. The bill proposes to address the problem by providing end user defendants the ability to switch the suit to the manufacturer when confronted with patent trolls; it increases the transparency of patents and of the companies that own them; and it asks the judicial conference to review and amend certain discovery rules. These are reasonable changes to the current law which will help reduce the burden of patent trolls on our economy. Unfortunately, the bill does not deal with the problem of the diversion of user fees from the Patent Office. Unfortunately also, the authors of the bill have grafted the Republican agenda of so-called ``tort reform'' onto the bill. These provisions may severely limit the ability of real inventors and of those with meritorious patent claims to obtain justice in our courts. They are deeply troubling and ought to be addressed by amendments to the bill now and improvements to the bill when it is taken up by the Senate. The most troubling provision is the ``loser pays'' provision. I oppose ``loser pays'' provisions in general and in this context as well.…”