Shapiro Lauds Senate Judiciary Committee's Passage of Patent Act

CEA President Gary Shapiro hailed the Senate Judiciary Committee's approval Thursday of the Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship (Patent) Act, which would close legal loopholes used by so-called patent trolls who “don't invent or manufacture anything useful, but rather abuse our patent system and extort American innovators.” The bipartisan legislation, introduced in April (see 1504290028) by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., along with committee members John Cornyn, R-Texas; Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., would “make necessary and commonsense reforms to restore the integrity of the U.S. patent system,” said a committee media advisory. "Patent trolls bleed $1.5 billion a week from the U.S. economy,” said Shapiro, saying the amount has reached $120 billion since the House passed a patent reform bill in December 2013. The Patent Act will “stop this legalized extortion of American innovators and free our small businesses from the burden of bogus lawsuits,” Shapiro said in a statement. "We now ask Senate leadership to recognize the critical need to protect our small businesses and entrepreneurs, and move forward with the Patent Act as quickly as possible,” he said.