Black Crawling Systems Archive Release 1.0/Black Crawling Systems Archive Release 1.0 (L0pht Heavy Industries, Inc.)(1997).ISO/tezcat/New_World_Order/Patents.txt

Text File | 1996-07-08 | 8KB | 183 lines

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PATENT RIP-OFF EXAMINED ON HILL

Legislation is gaining support in Congress to restore the patent rights
stripped from American inventors in the implementing bill of the General
Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) passed during last year's lame duck
session of Congress.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said his bill, H.R. 359, would "rectify
the biggest rip-off in American rights and moneys constituting a
betrayal of the American people."

In a speech before a trade and jobs symposium sponsored by the
Congressional Fair Trade Caucus on February 24, Rohrabacher explained
that the GATT language dramatically shortened the number of years of
patent protection American inventors have enjoyed for 150 years.

The patent law change was slipped into the GATT bill and presented to
Congress eight days before the final vote in the House last November.

"For weeks we kept asking for the specific language and [we were] kept
in the dark until the time it was submitted," he said. "It just didn't
happen. This is a crime in progress."

Until the new patent law change -- which does not go into effect until
June 8 -- Americans had 17 years of protection for their invention,
regardless of how long it look for the U.S. Patent Office to act. At
times it has taken the government bureaucracy 20 years to grant a
patent.

FEWER YEARS POSSIBLE

The GATT implementing bill adopted by Congress called for a patent term
of 20 years from the date of filing -- a fact not known to most members
of Congress when they voted, said Rohrabacher.

This change means, for example, if the patent office takes seven years
to issue the patent, the inventor would now get just 13 years of
protection instead of 17 years from the day the patent was granted, thus
reducing its economic value.

Rohrabacher said that the Japanese had been pressuring the U.S. to
change its patent law for decades, and with the GATT legislation, the
foreign nation got its way.

The reason why the patent law change is so important, he said, is that
patents have kept the U.S. in the forefront of technological change,
guaranteeing American industry the ability to compete and maintaining
the standard of living of the American people.

In recent years, Rohrabacher said, $85 billion has been invested
annually in private sector research and development, and that this
"mainspring of human progress" would dry up under the GATT patent
change.

Take that away and "our businesses will not be able to compete, our
standard of living goes down, and we will not be able to be on cutting
edge of technology," he added.

Unless the patent restoration bill passes, beginning on June 8, for 20
years starting from the time of filing, the clock starts ticking and it
is on the inventor's time, no matter how long the patent office takes.
This will effect almost every significant technological development that
American inventors and investors will have in the future.

TECHNOLOGY-GIVEAWAY

The GATT patent law language now allows foreign corporations and
multinationals to use technology paid for and invented by Americans
without paying royalties and use it to beat us, according to the
congressman.

We are talking about the "re-direction of billions of dollars that would
have been paid to American investors and inventors that will now be in
the bank accounts of huge Japanese and other multinational
corporations," Rohrabacher said.

The restoration bill will combine the patent term contained in the GATT
legislation with that of the previous law so that the patent term is 17
years from grant, or 20 years from filing, whichever is longer. It also
eliminates the possibility of inventors abusing the process with so-
called "submarine" patent applications.

Standing in the way of a speedy passage in the House is one man -- Rep.
Carlos Moorhead (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee
on Courts and Intellectual Property.

Moorhead, who is effectively bottling up the bill, promises a hearing
next year -- after the change takes effect. Rohrabacher said he did not
understand why the chairman was acting in this manner, but the staffer
to one Republican congressman put it this way: "Moorhead is representing
the interests of the Japanese."

The U.S. Patent Office contends that the average time of a patent grant
is only 19 months, thus, it argues, the GATT bill actually increased
protection.

This claim shows, Rohrabacher says, "how people can lie with statistics.
It is true, but that (statistic) includes all inconsequential patents,
of which 90 percent of patents are -- like stripes at the bottom of
toothpaste tubes. Almost every significant patent on technological
developments that are meaningful take years, and sometimes decades, to
maintain."

LIES TOLD

Rohrabacher says the U.S. Patent Office has "lied time and time again on
this issue." As noted by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) in a Dear Colleague
letter, the New York Times of January 16 quoted Michael Kirk, deputy
commissioner of patents, as stating that "(introducing a patent) after
June 8 could substantially shorten the term of a patent."

The goal of GATT, as Rohrabacher points out, is to "harmonize us with
the patent laws of the rest of the world. But would it be positive if we
changed our standard of freedom of speech and press to that of the rest
of the world? Are we now going to say the rights of Americans are going
to judged based on harmonizing them with the Japanese? It is ridiculous,
totally absurd, crazy."

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) has promised to bring the bill,
which has 128 cosponsors, to the House floor for a vote. But in this
"classic fight between little guy and big guy," Rohrabacher expects
visitors to members' offices from representatives of major law and
public relations firms and lobbyists.

"Trace the money back and find out who is paying for these lobbying
firms, and you will find some foreign corporation" is behind them, he
added.

It win come as a surprise to populist observers but this effort has
support from Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who has
introduced a companion measure, S. 284.

Last fall Dole raised the patent issue with the White House and, in
return for delivering Republican votes on GATT, the Clinton
administration promised that it would not oppose the patent restoration
effort.

Some American corporations are opposed to the legislation, Rohrabacher
said, because they use technology instead of inventing it, which means
they have the same profit motivations as a foreign corporation.

These U.S. corporations don't want to pay for what they are using, he
said, and many have economic ties with other international corporations.

This is going to be a big fight, the Californian predicted, as these big
corporations are counting on the American people not understanding the
patent law.

"I have deep faith in the American people and I believe that they are
going to recognize a rip-off when they see it." Making the grassroots
aware of the issue is the key, he said.

"Most people are concerned with their families and jobs," Rohrabacher
added. "If this manipulation of government is done quietly and can be
accomplished in a confusing way, policies can be put into place that are
dramatically contrary to the interests of the American people."

Supporting this effort is the Intellectual Property Creators Coalition
which includes members of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the
American College of Physician Inventors, Nobel laureates, and many other
inventors. Let your lawmakers know how you stand on this issue.

-- Spotlight, March 13, 1995

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