This past Tuesday, PIA’s Michael Makin made a trip to Washington D.C. to testify at the Senate’s Judiciary Committee hearing on “Protecting Small Businesses and Promoting Innovation by Limiting Patent Troll Abuse.” Kudos to Lisbeth Lyons, PIA’s Government Affairs VP for pulling the right strings to get Michael in front of the Committee. He was the only individual representing small businesses at the hearing.
Michael did an excellent job of making it clear that this type of patent “protection” is really more similar to a protection racket run by the mob than protecting someone’s intellectual property. Makin’s statement to Senator Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, says it all, “Keep in mind Mr. Chairman that patent trolls do not innovate. They do not promote economic growth. They do not contribute to education and scientific research. Most importantly patent trolls do not create jobs. Our businesses do.”
Now comes the arduous process of crafting legislation which will pair up with the House’s recently passed Innovation Act. One can hope that our representatives can get the right balance of protection for both patent holders and businesses. Right now it’s fairly one-sided.
