American Invents Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. WATERS. As a member of the Judiciary Committee, I rise in strong support of the Schock-Boren-Waters-Sensenbrenner-Franks-Kaptur amendment to strike section 18. For years, the too-big-to-fail banks have attempted to eliminate their patent infringement liabilities to smaller companies and inventors that have patented financial services-related business method patents. They are now coming to Congress in hopes that you will help them steal a specific type of innovation and legislatively take other financial services-related business method patents referenced in H.R. 1249, section 18. This is simply wrong.

Elected Members of Congress should not allow the banks to use us to steal legally issued and valid patents. Financial services-related business method patents have saved financial services companies billions of dollars. But that's not enough for the banks. Because the banks have failed at every attempt to void these patents, they're attempting to use their power to write into law what they could not achieve at PTO or in the courts.

Don't be tricked, don't be fooled, and don't be used. I urge my colleagues to listen to the floor debates.

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