Bipartisan support and economic spin keep hope alive. With all of the change brought by last Tuesday’s elections, the mandate to Congress has been made quite clear. Namely, the American public is expecting less government spending, an improved economy, and lower taxes (amen). Due to the significant shake up, one is left wondering what if any impact these personnel changes will have on everyone’s favorite never ending legislative saga….that is, patent reform.One notable change is that now that the GOP controls the House, the chair of the Judiciary Committee will shift from Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas). Earlier this week, Congressman Smith outlined his agenda. High on his agenda was, well, you guessed it………Congressman Smith characterized the patent reform pending legislation as:Nearly 30 percent of American workers are found in intellectual property industries such as health care, entertainment, renewable energy and information-technology.  Patents protect this intellectual property and encourage the creativity and innovation that generate jobs and increase productivity.The theft of intellectual property costs Americans billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.  When inventors and businesses invest in research and development that result in patents, they have the right to benefit from their efforts.  The American economy benefits too by the jobs these patents create.We need to improve our patent system to better protect intellectual property and help ensure that good patents are approved more quickly.  There is bipartisan support for much-needed revisions to our patent system, which has not been significantly updated in over half a century.Patent reform appears to have bipartisan support, and can be sold to the public as a form of economic stimulus. It is very unlikely we will see it this year….but you can bet it will be sold to us, in some form, next year….but then again, we have been saying that for many yea

With all of the change brought by last Tuesday’s elections, the mandate to Congress has been made quite clear. Namely, the American public is expecting less government spending, an improved economy, and lower taxes (amen). Due to the significant shake up, one is left wondering what if any impact these personnel changes will have on everyone’s favorite never ending legislative saga….that is, patent reform.

One notable change is that now that the GOP controls the House, the chair of the Judiciary Committee will shift from Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas). Earlier this week, Congressman Smith outlined his agenda. High on his agenda was, well, you guessed it………

Congressman Smith characterized the patent reform pending legislation as:

Nearly 30 percent of American workers are found in intellectual property industries such as health care, entertainment, renewable energy and information-technology.  Patents protect this intellectual property and encourage the creativity and innovation that generate jobs and increase productivity.

The theft of intellectual property costs Americans billions of dollars and thousands of jobs.  When inventors and businesses invest in research and development that result in patents, they have the right to benefit from their efforts.  The American economy benefits too by the jobs these patents create.

We need to improve our patent system to better protect intellectual property and help ensure that good patents are approved more quickly.  There is bipartisan support for much-needed revisions to our patent system, which has not been significantly updated in over half a century.

Patent reform appears to have bipartisan support, and can be sold to the public as a form of economic stimulus. It is very unlikely we will see it this year….but you can bet it will be sold to us, in some form, next year….but then again, we have been saying that for many years.