Rhonda Melancon says there is nothing more intimately entwined with the American Dream than innovation, invention and entrepreneurship.
“From the cotton gin to the light bulb to smartphones, America has led the world in innovation for more than 200 years,” writes the executive director of LouisianaBio in a guest column from the current issue of Business Report.
In her role with LouisianaBio, a nonprofit organization and the state affiliate of the world’s largest biotechnology trade association, Melancon works with some of the state’s leading innovators in medicine, biologics, agriculture and other areas of biotechnology.
“Early stage life sciences, medical device, food and ag companies are popping up all over the state,” Melancon writes. “It is imperative that we maintain the fundamental right of this burgeoning industry to protect its hard-earned intellectual property against others who hope to profit from it but had nothing to do with the technology’s inception.”
Melancon says there are two bills currently before Congress—the Innovation Act (H.R. 9) and the PATENT Act (S. 1137)—that “deal (rather sloppily) with the legitimate issue of patent abuse by essentially undermining the safety of intellectual property rights for small startup companies and universities.”
Those are the very same kind of startups that are driving biotech industry growth here in Louisiana, Melancon says.
The bills would create a “legal labyrinth for patent holders,” but would not protect innocent retailers from patent lawsuits as intended, Melancon says. The legislation would also create “overly burdensome statutory pleading agreements that could be crippling to patent holders trying to defend their intellectual property,” she adds.
“Lastly, the legislation does not fix the imbalance in the inter partes review procedure at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,” Melancon writes. “The program, implemented by the America Invents Act, has made thousands of requests for Inter Partes Reviews that have been mostly decided against the patent holder. Any patent legislation passed should make sure legitimate patent holders are being treated fairly. This includes having the right to amend their patent claims and making sure patents are held to a clear standard with both IPR and court proceedings.”
Melancon is calling on the senior members of Louisiana’s congressional delegation to stand up to the bills.
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