Patrick Leahy: “today the Senate will pass S. 1640, the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act Amendments of 2007, after the Judiciary…”

“today the Senate will pass S. 1640, the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act Amendments of 2007, after the Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to send it to the floor. This is a small but important piece of legislation, and I thank my cosponsors, Senator Cornyn, Senator Kohl, and Senator Whitehouse, for all their hard work. Last year, this bill was passed by the Judiciary Committee and by the full Senate, but unfortunately the House held it hostage to an unrelated bill at the end of the session. I don't want that to happen again this year. In 1998, Congress passed the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act to recognize the significant time, effort, and innovation that figure into ship design. Recent courtroom experience has made it clear that in order to be effective, this law needs to be clarified and refined. Our bill does exactly this, and no more, by clarifying the definition of ``hull'' and ``deck.'' This ensures that the intellectual property rights of vessel hull designers will be protected. I look forward to this bill becoming law.”