Foster and Stivers Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Protect American Ingenuity

Statement

Today, Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) and Congressman Steve Stivers (R-OH) introduced H.R. 5340, the Support Technology & Research for Our Nation's Growth and Economic Resilience (STRONGER) Patent Act, to strengthen the United States' patent system. The legislation would implement reforms to the current patent system through improvement of the administrative review proceedings at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It would also allow the Federal Trade Commission to target firms that take advantage of startups, lowering the number of abusive demand letters.

"I am proud to work with Representative Stivers to make our patent system stronger and more effective for everyone with a new idea. From the earliest days of our country's history, our economy's strength has relied on a patent system that has allowed innovators and entrepreneurs to thrive," Foster said. "This system has allowed businesses to flourish, creating jobs and cementing our reputation as a world leader. Our current patent system, however, has been weakened to the point that it discourages research and innovation rather than supporting it. I thank Representative Stivers for his leadership on this important issue as we work together to make our patent system better for everyone."

"As a nation, we may not have the lowest wage rate, or the lowest number of regulations, but we do have the best ideas, and protecting those ideas is essential," Stivers said. "Main Street should be just as much of an incubator for innovation as Silicon Valley, and we must ensure that these small patent owners have the same opportunity to compete in the open market."

In the past few years, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce downgraded patent system from first to twelfth place in the world. IP intensive industries make up one-third of U.S. GDP at $5.5 trillion and support 27 million jobs.

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