(WASHINGTON, DC) – US Inventor announces its support for H.R. 6557, the Inventor Protection Act, which was introduced yesterday in the United States House of Representatives by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA). The bill seeks to protect inventors from certain effects of the 2011 America Invents Act and recent Supreme Court rulings which according to the bill “have adversely affected inventors such that the promise …of securing for limited times to inventors the exclusive right to their discoveries is no longer attainable.”

The legislation, to be posted at H.R. 6557, highlights several obstacles inventors face in the existing legal system including the cost and lack of success defending their issued patents in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), the 2017 TC Heartland decision requiring infringement suits to be filed in the district where the accused infringer is incorporated, the loss of the right to injunctive relief under the 2006 eBay decision, the duration and complexity of infringement litigation in the courts, and disregard of their patent rights by large corporations who have adopted an “efficient infringement” business model.

Special provisions are made for Inventor-Owned Patents in which the patent is held entirely by the original inventor rather than an investor, trader, or so-called patent troll. Those provisions include exemption from PTAB proceedings, the right to file suit in the district(s) where infringement occurs, a legal presumption of the right to an injunction, shortened judicial procedures, and simplified methods for calculating monetary damages.

US Inventor President Randy Landreneau extolled the introduction of the bill.

“A new day is dawning for American innovation as legislators are realizing that inventors have been effectively shut out of our patent system without any realistic path to enforcing their hard-earned patents,” Landreneau said. “Passing this bill will restore confidence in patent rights and draw capital investment back to small disruptive businesses built on the ingenuity of American inventors.”

Many non-partisan organizations have joined US Inventor in their support of the Inventor Protection Act including United Inventors Association, Edison Nation, Alliance of U.S. Startups & Inventors for Jobs, San Diego Inventors Forum, Tampa Bay Inventors Council, Nevada Inventors Association, and Iowa Inventors Group.

For further information please contact Shannon Polvino at (716) 597-5188. Learn more about US Inventor at US Inventor.

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More detailed information about this bill is posted at usinventor.org/ipa

July 27, 2018
Contact: Shannon Polvino
(716) 597-5188
Polvino@ZeppCom.com