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ALERT!! If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It! Urge Senators to Vote 'NO' on so-called "Patent Reform" Oct. 29, 1999 On Tuesday, November 2, the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to mark up the "American Inventors Protection Act" sponsored by Senators Hatch and Leahy. This bill is the companion to the so-called "patent reform" bill (H.R. 1907) that passed the House on August 3. As the Nobel Laureates said, "This bill has the potential to affect the future of the country as an economic power more than any other legislation in recent history." SELLING OUT TO MULTINATIONALS AND FOREIGNERS The U.S. Patent Office was set up to protect the constitutional right of independent inventors to the "exclusive" ownership of their inventions for a limited number of years, after which the inventions belong to the public. The U.S. patent system is the best in the world, and this bill seeks to downgrade our system for the benefit of multinationals and foreigners. The worst part is the re-examination section, which totally changes the position of the small inventor trying to defend himself and his patent against the big corporations. The large corporations can, at very small cost, demand re-examinations while the little guy's patent term is running. This would multiply the small inventor's cost of defending his patent while reducing the big corporations' cost of attacking patents. The result would be to undercut the presumption of validity of all existing patents. Other countries have very different systems. The Japanese system is based on collusion between the government and the big corporations, and the Chinese Communist system is based on military control of the economy. Why should we harmonize the American system with these unsuccessful systems? Every small business that relies on a patent is under assault by this bill. The bill is clearly written to advantage the multinational corporations and the foreigners at the expense of independent inventors, who are the chief source of American innovation and economics prosperity. IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED Urge Senators on the Judiciary Committee to vote AGAINST the "American Inventors Protection Act" when it comes up for mark-up on Tuesday. Judiciary Committee Members to Contact: Republicans: Grassley (IA) phone: 202-224-3744, fax: 202-224-6020 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Specter (PA) phone: 202-224-4254, fax: 202-228-1229 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Kyl (AZ) phone: 202-224-4521, fax: 202-228-1239 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] DeWine (OH) phone: 202-224-2315, fax: 202-224-6519 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Ashcroft (MO) phone: 202-224-6154, fax: 202-228-0998 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Abraham (MI) phone: 202-224-4822, fax: 202-224-8834 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sessions (AL) phone: 202-224-4124, fax: 202-224-3149 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Bob Smith (NH) phone: 202-224-2841, fax: 202-224-1353 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Democrats: Kennedy (MA) phone: 202-224-4543, fax: 202-224-2417 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Biden (DE) phone: 202-224-5042, fax: 202-224-0139 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Feinstein (CA) phone: 202-224-3841, fax: 202-228-3954 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Feingold (WI) phone: 202-224-5323, fax: 202-224-2725 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Torricelli (NJ) phone: 202-224-3224, fax: 202-224-8567 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Schumer (NY) phone: 202-224-6542, fax: 202-228-3027 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121 H.R. 1907: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:h.r.01907: Patent Page: http://eagleforum.org/patent/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ On-line version of this Alert may be found at: http://eagleforum.org/patent/alert/99-10-29.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eagle Forum http://www.eagleforum.org PO Box 618 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Alton, IL 62002 Phone: 618-462-5415 Fax: 618-462-8909 ------------------------------------------------------ To subscribe to Eagle E-mail please e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with SUBSCRIBE in the subject line. To unsubscribe, please send a message with UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line. -----------------------------------------------------
