Today marks the celebration of World IP Day, promoting the role of intellectual property in encouraging innovation and creativity. The Internet industry is a leader in protecting IP and providing new opportunities for creators, inventors, and artists.
Earlier this year, President Obama made strong statements in support of additional patent reforms saying that abusive patent trolls are just trying “to leverage and hijack somebody else’s idea and see if they can extort some money out of them.”
The Congressional push to address abusive patent litigation picked up momentum this week with a statement by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy. He announced yesterday that he will pursue legislation to make patent trolls “unprofitable.” This comes on the heels of a series of hearings where House Judiciary Committee Chairman Goodlatte said “steps must be taken to ensure that the patent system continues to be one that lives up to the vision of our Founders, truly promoting the progress of science and the useful arts.”
The President, along with bipartisan Committee Chairmen in the House and the Senate are in agreement that our patent system needs improvement. We could not agree more. Patent reform must be a priority this Congress. Now is the time to address the problem of abusive patent litigation that plagues our industry and so many others from retailers to startups.
We appreciate the support of our nation’s leaders and call for action: move quickly to pass legislation that removes the lopsided financial incentives driving abusive litigation.
Follow these twitter handles to learn more: @SenatorLeahy @RepGoodlatte @InternetAssn
