Political Quotes

“I would like to commend Commerce Secretary William Daley, acting Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks Q. Todd Dickinson, and the U.S. Department of Commerce for their hard work and dedication in establishing the new Patent and Trademark Office Internet database. This online database truly reinvents how the government does business and how business innovation can flourish with government's help. This database will help erode some of the traditional barriers that have hindered business innovation in small, rural states like Vermont. As an avid Internet user, I have long advocated a transition to an online database for trademarks and patents. The prior painstaking process of searching existing patents and trademarks was a time-consuming frustration for inventors. Last Congress I co-authored an amendment to the Omnibus Patent Act of 1997, which would have required the creation of computer networks to provide electronic access to patent information. I am proud that the database unveiled today achieves the goal of universal electronic access to trademarks and patents. This new system of instant on-line access to the entire patent application--including the drawings--will greatly promote innovation and technology by showing researchers what the current science is. With this new database, there are now more than two million complete patents on-line dating back to 1976 and 1 million trademarks dating back to 1870.”