HR205

WHEREAS, the Patent Reform Act is poised to benefit large-scale technology companies at the expense of small independent inventors and companies whose previous patents have revolutionized the areas of the Internet, medicine, public safety, and national defense; and

WHEREAS, the primary advocates of the alteration of United States patent law are large technology corporations, led by Microsoft, seeking to diminish competition by lobbying under the title "Coalition for Patent Fairness"; and

WHEREAS, large and small manufacturers, technology companies, universities, independent inventors and patent examiners were excluded from the legislative process in the creation of these measures; and

WHEREAS, current United States intellectual property law assures national security by making the United States military the most technologically advanced in the world; and

WHEREAS, our nation's intellectual property laws are recognized as some of the strongest in the world, offering solid protections to American inventors and incentives to foreign inventors to register their patents in the United States; and

WHEREAS, strong intellectual property laws are necessary during economic shifts, such as the current shift in which intangible assets (such as knowledge, information, and creativity) are rapidly overtaking traditional and tangible assets (such as land, labor, and capital) as the driving forces behind the American economy; and

WHEREAS, the 1952 Patent Act has already undergone numerous changes, including at least:

(1) Thirty-five major patent decisions issued by the United States Supreme Court;

(2) Forty-six significant changes to patent regulations made by the United States Patent and Trademark Office; and

(3) Forty-two amendments made by Congress since 1952; and

WHEREAS, patent lawsuits as a percentage of patents granted have remained at only 1.5 per cent over the last fifteen years, and the number of patent lawsuits commenced has actually dropped from 3,075 in 2004 to 2,830 in 2006, of which approximately only three per cent went to trial; and

WHEREAS, it is in the best interests of small entities, individuals, and the American economy not to diminish current patent law protections; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, that this body urges Hawaii's congressional delegation to oppose the Patent Reform Act; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and to the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Hawaii's Congressional Delegation; Patent Reform Act

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	205
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII