Rep. Scott Peters Leads Bipartisan Fight for American Innovators

Statement

Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) led a letter, with support from a bipartisan group of 78 other colleagues, to House leadership asking for changes to the Inter Partes Review (IPR) portion of H.R. 9, the so-called "Innovation Act," before the bill comes to the floor for a vote. Peters has been out front and persistent in the fight to make substantial changes to the currently-flawed legislation before it is considered by the whole House of Representatives.

"What is clear is that the so-called "Innovation Act' is the wrong approach and will undermine the entire patent system," said Rep. Scott Peters (CA-52). "The bill is overly broad, resulting in a system where any actions taken against a patent troll could also be taken against a real inventor with a legitimate patent."

Peters continued, "Instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, we should craft patent reform legislation that actually fixes the problem of abusive litigation and out of control patent trolls, gives inventors a clear and reasonable route of recourse when they are wronged, and brings our patent system into the 21st century.

"We must be working to find the right balance between immediate access to lower-cost medicines and incentivizing innovative research and development here in the United States. The "Innovation Act' would undermine that balance and threaten our country's competitive advantage," Peters concluded.

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