Joe Crowley: “I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to the amendment that would eliminate…”

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Chair, I rise in strong opposition to the amendment that would eliminate section 18 of the underlying patent reform bill. Section 18 empowers the Patent and Trademark Office to review the validity of so- called business method patents. This language was drafted in close cooperation with the Patent and Trademark Office and the Department of Commerce. It also enjoys the wide bipartisan support of the Judiciary Committee, which defeated a similar amendment during committee consideration of this bill. Further, this amendment does not hurt any legitimate inventors. It only allows for the review of abstract patents issued since 1988 when a Federal court ruled that business methods could be patented--a ruling which the U.S. Supreme Court limited significantly last year. What are these business methods I'm talking about? In one case, a business method patent was issued for interactive fund-raising across a data packet transferring computer network. Once obtained, the patent holder sued the Red Cross for soliciting charitable contributions on the Internet, claiming that his patent covers this entire field. In another example, a patent was granted covering the printing of marketing materials on billing statements. These patents, and many others in this space, are not legitimate patents that help advance America.…”