A lot of the motion within the Home of Representatives begins in committees and subcommittees. Over the previous a number of phrases, patent legislation laws and USPTO oversight have primarily been dealt with by the Judiciary Committee, and notably the Subcommittee on Courts, Mental Property, and the Web, with the subcommittee chair usually driving the dialogue and proposals.
As Republicans take cost within the Home, the brand new Speaker (together with the Judiciary Chair) might want to additionally identify an IP Subcommittee chair. There are two main candidates:
- Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from San Diego, California; and
- Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Northern Kentucky.
Each Issa and Massie are non-traditional judiciary committee members as neither are attorneys. Nonetheless, every has a number of expertise in electronics and creating merchandise, and with patents. Issa asks nice questions and is a robust company watchdog. However, Massie is the one that really believes in patents as a component of a powerful libertarian property rights system. In latest days, USInventor has been lobbying towards Rep. Issa and has indicated to me that it could strongly assist Rep. Massie.
I bear in mind first listening to Rep. Issa’s voice on car alarm techniques again within the early Nineties saying: “protected by Viper, stand again.” However, it’s Massie’s patents which might be notably cool, most of which give attention to haptic suggestions mechanisms.
