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National Small Business Association Objects to Key Provisions of Patent Reform Act of 2009

The Honorable Harry Reid

Majority Leader

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Mitch McConnell

Minority Leader

United States Senate

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senators Reid and McConnell:

On behalf of the National Small Business Association (NSBA) http://www.nsba.biz , I would like to express the objection of America’s
entrepreneurs and small-business innovators to key provisions of S. 515, the Patent Reform Act of 2009.

Established in 1937 and reaching 150,000 small businesses across the nation, NSBA is the country’s oldest,
nonpartisan small-business advocacy organization.

It is imperative that any effort to modernize and improve America’s patent system carefully consider the effect on
the nation’s small businesses. America’s small businesses are the most dynamic and innovative sector of the
economy, generating over 90 percent of the country’s net new jobs since 1989. They employ more scientists and
engineers than large companies (32 to 27 percent) and generate five times more patents per research and
development dollar than large companies. Small-business innovators “produce 13 to 14 times more patents per
employee than their larger counterparts, and… these patents are more likely to be cited in other patenting
applications,” according to a recent paper from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

While appreciative of the improvement to S. 515 from its earlier iterations, NSBA remains strongly opposed to
two key elements of the bill. The conversion from first-to-invent to first-to-file remains highly problematic to
America’s entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, changes to the previous provisions pertaining to post-grant patent
challenges have resulted in a bill even more tilted in favor of large incumbent multinational firms at the expense
of America’s small-business innovators.

While S. 515 includes several provisions that specifically disadvantage innovative small firms, the following
provisions are still our chief concern:

1. Repeal of first inventor’s priority rights and the transition to First-to-File
The small-business innovators of NSBA oppose the transition away from the American first-to-invent patent
priority system, without a thorough study and understanding of how such a change may negatively impact
America’s small firms. At present, the effect of such a change on innovative entrepreneurs is far from clear.
NSBA believes that America’s unique patent system—and its singular ability to harness and protect the country’s
small business inventors—has played a fundamental role in helping America achieve its status as the global leader
in technological innovation.

A purported justification for transitioning away from the first-to-invent is international “harmonization.” U.S.
patent laws allow inventors a “grace period,” so that they can perfect their invention and begin commercialization
for up to a year before filing a first patent application. Other nations have been reluctant to “harmonize” with this
important feature of U.S. patent law.

An antecedent of S. 515 in the 110th Congress explicitly tied the transition to a first-to-invent system to a
reciprocal conversion in the patent law systems of major foreign nations of a limited public disclosure “grace
period.” This harmonization quid pro quo was removed from S. 515. The resulting one-sided unconditional
“harmonization” only will benefit other countries, to the detriment of America’s entrepreneur inventors.

According patent priority to the invention date rather than the filing date has protected U.S. small business
patentees who are diligent (within their limited means) in reducing their invention to practice prior to filing their
application. S. 515 repeals the private disclosure one-year grace period and its transition away from first-to-invent
will cause small-business inventors to lose valuable priority rights, weakening or invalidating their patents by
“prior art” that is actually after their invention dates. The American first-to-invent patent system has been a major
mechanism for the dynamism of small-business innovation. It guarantees that only carefully and well-developed
inventions are patented and at much less expense to the patentee than in first-to-file countries. It is demonstrable
and clear that the weak or (entirely absent) grace periods used in the rest of the world’s first-to-file patent system
throttles small-business innovation and job creation.
By repealing the invention date as the priority date, the pressure to establish filing date priority will require
applicants to file more frequently, at every stage of development, without perfecting their inventions. The costs of
increased filings—more frequent invention reviews, earlier and more frequent hiring of outside patent attorneys,
and new patenting costs—will be felt most strongly by small businesses.

In contrast, large firms and multinational companies often have on-staff patent attorneys who can file multiple
applications at each stage of a company’s invention process at substantially lower cost per patent than small
businesses. Consequently, more often than not, an entrepreneurial inventor will lose the race to the patent office
under S. 515.

NSBA urges the Congress to study and find the likely economic effects on small U.S. innovative businesses
before enacting sweeping changes to America’s 200 year-old patent priority laws. Any purported benefits from
the transition away from the American first-to-invent system must be clearly identified, quantified, and balanced
against the harm identified in this letter.

2. Post-Grant Patent Challenges

NSBA opposes the proposed post-grant review (PGR) procedures because they are too easily manipulated to the
detriment of small businesses. The PGR language in S. 515 fails to address adequately the problem of infringers
who make repeated challenges to issued patents. Instead, the proposed PGR provisions add an extra chance for
infringers to challenge patents. Under S. 515, mere commencement of a PGR proceeding would eliminate the
statutory presumption of validity essential to a patent’s enforceability. Small business’ ability to rely on issued
patents will be diminished. The PGR provisions permit an incumbent competitor to initiate a PGR challenge
merely because a patent issues, which will force the patentee to chose between simply allowing the patent to be
revoked or spending several hundred thousand dollars to defend a costly PGR proceeding.

While NSBA appreciates efforts to reform the U.S. patent system, its small-business members view S. 515 as
woefully deficient and potentially devastating to America’s most productive yet vulnerable innovators. The effect
this legislation would have on America’s entrepreneurs has not been examined and the needs of the small-business
community simply have not been explored. Barring significant alterations to the aforementioned provisions,
NSBA must respectfully oppose S. 515.

Sincerely,

Todd O. McCracken

President

1156 15th St., N.W. • Suite 1100 • Washington, D.C. 20005-1755 • 202.293.8830 • Fax: 202.872.8543 • http://www.nsba.biz

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