The House Judiciary Committee yesterday voted 24-8 to pass the Innovation Act (HR 9), a highly problematic patent bill that numbers higher education associations, including AAU, APLU, COGR, AUTM, AAMC and ACE, are on record as opposing.
The group of six higher education associations have been working together on patent reform proposals currently in the house and Senate. In advance of the markup, the group issued a statement Wednesday emphasizing that HR 9 would weaken the patent system. The statement also noted that while collectively universities strongly support reducing abusive patent litigation practices, the Senate’s PATENT Act (S 1137), which was approved last week by the Senate Judiciary Committee, is the preferred direction. HR 9 would make it far more difficult, risky and costly for all patent holders to defend their rights in good faith, and thus seriously undermine the ability of universities to engage in technology transfer.
The bill has been quite contentious within the House. With the Senate passing its measure last week, the House is looking for a counterpoint to begin negotiations. It is unclear when HR 9 welcome to the House Floor.