Innovation Alliance executive director Brian Pomper made the following statement regarding today's House Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office:

“The Innovation Alliance applauds Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith for holding this oversight hearing today. They clearly recognize the vital role that patents and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office play in the U.S. economy. We remain deeply concerned, however, that the pending House patent reform legislation, H.R. 1260, would negatively impact the U.S. economy, U.S. innovation, and U.S. job growth, particularly with respect to its provisions on damages and post-grant review.

"American jobs and innovation depend upon a patent process that is accessible and reliable for all types of businesses. Today's hearing shows how great those challenges are and deepens our concern that the post-grant review changes in the current version of H.R. 1260 would be detrimental to job growth and innovation in America. The Innovation Alliance will continue to meet with House members to urge improvements to H.R. 1260. The current version of the bill would devalue the contribution of inventors by devaluing valid patents, make the patent process subject to greater abuse, and make it more expensive, slower, and less predictable, especially for innovative smaller companies and universities.

“In this time of national economic stress, resources at the USPTO are plummeting, making this exactly the wrong time to add a major new post-grant review component to the USPTO's mandate."