WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Two federal lawmakers are set to participate in an online chat next week, discussing their concerns with two pieces of patent reform legislation being considered by Congress.
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., will take questions from online viewers via Twitter in a bipartisan Google Hangout Wednesday.
The chat begins at 3 p.m. EST.
Coons and Massie will address their concerns with S. 1137, or the PATENT -- Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship -- Act, and H.R. 9, otherwise known as the Innovation Act.
Coons, who is the author of another piece of patent reform legislation, the STRONG Patents Act, has said both bills have “significant flaws.”
Massie, a small inventor in his own right, with nearly 30 U.S. patents, is among those lawmakers who believe the Innovation Act, in particular, would dramatically weaken intellectual property rights and undermine the patent system.
“The bill attempts to ‘fix’ a few isolated abuses of the patent system, but instead it sets forth a comprehensive overhaul of the existing legal framework that compromises the rights of all legitimate inventors,” he said at a July press conference. “If Congress recklessly weakens our patent system by passing this bill, inventors’ very livelihoods will be threatened. Inventors will stop inventing, and as the role models for young inventors quietly fade into history, fewer young students will pursue this rewarding career path.
“A decade from now, Congress will lament the lack of interest among our nation’s youth in subjects like science, technology, engineering and mathematics, arrogantly unaware that Congress itself destroyed it.”
Also participating in the online discussion is prolific inventor Louis Foreman.
Foreman, whose firm Enventys is responsible for the development and filing of more than 600 U.S. patents, also is the creator of the Emmy Award-winning PBS television show, Everyday Edisons. He serves as the show’s executive producer and lead judge.
The 45-minute discussion will be moderated by Gene Quinn, a U.S. patent attorney and founder of IPWatchdog.
The event is being presented by the Innovation Alliance’s “Save the Inventor” campaign.
To view the Google Hangout, click here.
Follow the Twitter conversation and submit questions at #PatentsMatter.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at jessica@legalnewsline.com.