BIO Urges Senate To Consider PTO Report On Improved Patent Quality, USA

Main Category: Pharma Industry / Biotech Industry
Article Date: 05 Dec 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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The following statement was issued by Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) President and CEO Jim Greenwood regarding the Performance and Accountability Report for Fiscal Year 2007 recently issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO):

"As the Senate continues to debate legislation aimed at improving the U.S. patent system, it is clear that the current system continues to promote American ingenuity and innovation - as evidenced by the high number of new patent applications and issuances in 2007. And, despite the record number of new applications, the PTO is reporting marked improvement in the quality of patents issued, demonstrating a more rigorous process of patent examination.

"We urge the Senate to consider these trends as it debates patent reform legislation. While there are ways to even further improve patent quality, such as through meaningful inequitable conduct reform and more objectivity and transparency in the patent examination process, these trends reported by the PTO undermine the calls for draconian "reforms" to the patent system. To the contrary, it is clear that the fundamentals of our current system are sound, and improving over time. These fundamentals should not be undermined in the guise of 'reform'. Proposals that encourage infringement and weaken the certainty and predictability of patents must be rejected. Such proposals would discourage investment in innovative industries such as biotech, in which it often takes more than a decade and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring a product to market.

"The Senate should reject such proposals and tread carefully and deliberately when considering patent reform. We pledge our support to continue to work with the full Congress to ensure the U.S. patent system continues to provide the framework required to maintain America's global leadership in innovation."

The Performance and Accountability Report for Fiscal Year 2007 is available online here.

About BIO

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the annual BIO International Convention, the global event for biotechnology.

http://www.bio.org