U.S. Congress Invites PUBPAT Executive to Testify about Patent Reform
The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT") announced today that Executive Director, Dan Ravicher, has been invited by the U.S. House of Representatives to testify at this week's hearing on a proposed bill to reform the patent system. Ravicher will make a presentation and then answer questions from Representatives on the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, including Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Ranking Member Howard Berman (D-CA), at the hearing scheduled for 9:00 am EDT on Thursday, June 9, 2005.
(PRWEB) June 8, 2005 -- The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT") announced
today that Executive Director, Dan Ravicher, has been invited by the U.S. House
of Representatives to testify at this week's hearing on a proposed bill to
reform the patent system. Ravicher will make a presentation and then answer
questions from Representatives on the Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and
Intellectual Property, including Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Ranking Member
Howard Berman (D-CA), at the hearing scheduled for 9:00 am EDT on Thursday, June
9, 2005.
"The interests of the non-patent holding public are almost
always absent from any meaningful participation in decision making about the
patent system, despite the fact that they bear the brunt of its burdens,"
Ravicher stated in written testimony submitted prior to the hearing. "Patent
policy should be made with consideration of all of the public's interests, not
just the specific interests of the PTO, patent holders, patent practitioners,
and large commercial actors."
Patent reform has been a topic of extensive
discussion in Washington recently, with the House and Senate having several
hearings on the subject. A widely circulated proposed patent reform bill
includes provisions reigning in undeserved injunctions, limiting the ability of
patent applicants to file unlimited numbers of continuation applications, and
creating a post-grant opposition procedure allowing the public to more
efficiently verify the validity of issued patents. In his written testimony,
Ravicher commented on each of these provisions and also raised several other
areas in need of reform not addressed in the proposed bill.
More
information about PUBPAT's testimony to Congress on patent reform, including a
complete copy of Ravicher's written statement, can be found at http://www.pubpat.org/Educating_and_Advocating.htm.
Contact:
Jill
Ratkevic, Bite Communications: (415) 365-0482; e-mail protected from spam
bots.
About PUBPAT:
The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT") is a
not-for-profit legal services organization working to protect the public from
the harms caused by the patent system, particularly the harms caused by wrongly
issued patents and unsound patent policy. PUBPAT provides the general public and
those specific persons or businesses otherwise deprived of access to the system
governing patents, with representation, advocacy, and education. To be kept
informed of PUBPAT News, subscribe to the PUBPAT News List by sending an email
with "subscribe" in the subject line to e-mail protected from spam
bots.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb249103.htm