by Phyllis Schlafly
The globalists are making a new attempt to circumvent and weaken a right explicitly recognized in the U.S. Constitution: Americans’ exclusive ownership of their own inventions.
Fortunately, Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) have exposed this mischief and called on Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) to slow down and discuss the proposed legislation before making costly mistakes.
As we’ve learned with “Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” we should all be on guard any time politicians patronize us with pompous talk about “reform.” The so-called Patent Reform Act of 2007 is not reform at all; in one package, it betrays both individual rights and U.S. sovereignty.
It’s no accident that the United States has produced the overwhelming majority of the world’s great inventions. It’s because the Founding Fathers invented the world’s best patent system, which was a brilliant stroke of inspired originality when the Constitution was written in 1787, and still is stunningly unique in the world….
The so-called patent “reform” of 1999 radically changed this to allow the U.S. Patent Office to publish the details of inventions 18 months after they are filed, unless the inventor agrees NOT to file a patent application in another country. Other countries do not respect inventors’ rights granted by the U.S. Patent Office.
Inventors say the U.S. Patent Office is now taking an average of 31 months to grant a patent! So, when the Patent Office publishes (i.e., posts online) a patent application before a patent is granted, this gives patent pirates all over the world an average of 13 months (31 minus 18) to study detailed descriptions of virtually all U.S. patent applications, steal and adapt these new American ideas to their own purposes, and go into production.
Foreign governments, foreign corporations, and patent pirates are thus able to systematically “mine” U.S. patent applications and steal American-owned inventions. The 2007 “reform” bill’s “harmonization” is a fraud because it does nothing to require or induce other countries to respect U.S. patents….
The U.S. gives priority to the first one who actually invents something rather than to one who simply files papers about what he plans to invent. The change to “first to file” would create a race to the Patent Office and would severely disadvantage the small and independent inventors who lack the resources of big corporations.
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