Lamar Smith: “Almost everyone in Congress wants to help small businesses. They are the foundation of our economy and are the primary…”

“Almost everyone in Congress wants to help small businesses. They are the foundation of our economy and are the primary job creators. But this amendment includes certain terms or phrases that have nothing to do with the underlying goal that it purports to achieve. This amendment appears to focus on small businesses, but in reality the amendment attempts to provide the trial lawyer lobby and patent trolls with an exemption from PTO reexamination, allowing them to continue suing job creators using frivolous or questionable patents. This amendment has nothing to do with small businesses and everything to do with providing an exemption for some of the worst offenders of our patent system. This amendment will not help independent inventors or small businesses. Small businesses need the PTO reexamination proceedings. Those proceedings strengthen patents, and strong patents are what investors look for when making decisions about whether or not to provide venture capital funding. The argument that reexam proceedings harass or hurt small businesses is just plain wrong. The reexam proceedings are a cheaper, quicker, better alternative to resolve questions of patentability than costly litigation in Federal court, which can run into the millions of dollars and last for years. This amendment is an immunity agreement for patent trolls, those entities who do not create jobs or innovation but simply game the legal system.…”