Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. The purpose of H. Con. Res. 328 is to express the sense of Congress regarding the successful and substantial contributions of the Bayh-Dole Act on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of its enactment. The Act establishes the rules of the road governing patent rights when the Federal Government and private entities participate in joint research that produces patentable inventions. Article I, section 8, clause 8 of the United States Constitution provides Congress with the authority ``to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.'' The drafters of the Constitution, however, couldn't have predicted that the Federal Government would one day become a catalyst for the development of advanced technologies. Prior to Bayh-Dole, the Federal Government permitted the private sector to commercialize less than 5 percent of the government's patent portfolio. As former Senator Robert Dole stated in 2005, the government's track record on promoting university-born technologies during the 1960s and 1970s was ``dismal.'' The failure to capitalize on this important research delayed innovations that could have improved the quality of life for millions of Americans. What was the government doing wrong before 1980? Simply put, the government was focused on something else.…”