Inventor Rights Resolution
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INVENTOR RIGHTS RESOLUTION Our patent system is in crisis. Recent changes to patent laws and Supreme Court decisions have adversely affected inventors such that the requirement in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of "securing for limited times to inventors the exclusive right to their discoveries" is no longer achieved. It is nearly impossible to stop an infringer from using an invention without permission, or to make them to pay for the damage caused when they do. The undersigned inventors call on Congress to pass legislation to address these critical issues. PTAB: The USPTO Must Stop Taking Back Patents From Inventors Patents that are infringed are often contested in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), which is an administrative tribunal within the USPTO, purported to be an alternative to traditional federal courts, and created by the 2011 America Invents Act. To defend a patent costs the inventor several hundred thousand dollars, and usually cannot persuade the PTAB to uphold the patent. Even if the inventor prevails in the first challenge, others are allowed to challenge the same patent over and over again. This has been devastating to inventors and small businesses that rely on patents to protect investments and build businesses. Participation in PTAB reviews should be voluntary at least while the patent is held by the original inventor. If PTAB reviews become a fair alternative to validity challenges in a traditional federal court, then inventors will participate voluntarily. Otherwise, patents that are believed to be invalid can be contested in a traditional federal court, as has always been the case. INJUNCTIONS: Courts must prohibit use of a patented invention w/o permission In the 2006 eBay decision, the Supreme Court held that in most circumstances a patent cannot prevent an infringer from using the invention. For instance when a large corporation can produce the invention faster, cheaper, or in greater quantities, they are allowed to keep selling in perpetual violation of the patent. Thus the inventor has no say in who gets to use the invention and what they do with it. The inventor cannot determine the price, the quality, the brand, the features, the materials, the factory location, the working conditions, environmental sustainability, or any other concern. Indeed, the inventor is compelled to grant the infringer a license for a royalty amount determined by the court. The eBay decision should be overturned, and the court should issue an injunction ordering the infringer to stop using the invention until they have obtained a license negotiated in good faith with the inventor. PROFITS: Infringers must not profit by using an invention w/o permission Current law limits most inventors who win in court to only a “reasonable royalty”, which in many cases does not cover legal fees and is too little to serve as a deterrent against large corporations with deep pockets. These corporations simply ignore patents, knowing that few inventors can afford the millions of dollars and many years required to enforce their patents in court. In the rare case that an inventor survives the legal gauntlet, the infringer usually is ordered to share only a small percentage of their profits with the inventor while keeping the rest for themselves. Without penalties infringing is much more profitable as a business strategy than inventing. To restore fairness and respect for patents, infringers should not be allowed to keep their profits made from someone else’s invention. (signatures follow) SIGNATORIES 2,102 Inventors With Issued or Pending Patents Alabama's 2nd Edward Golamb George Margolin Edie Hunker Gail Helton John Aza Mike Vaugh Jill Hering Malka Rodal Alabama's 5th John Wnuk Martin Leon Grant Moore Katherine Hudson Nicholas Valcke Joyce Betts Sean Schlueter Ruth Foster Alabama's 6th Delvin Butler Thanaa Salloum Donna Mcpheeters Walt Ahland Peter Vancea Ron Williams Arizona's 6th Arkansas's 2nd Tom Waugh Alan White Eric Bryan Wade Williams David Fitzgerald Tony Anthony Jim Geer John Bruno Arkansas's 3rd Alabama's 7th Joseph Bryski Larry Robertson Kimberly Briggins Karren Moreland Louis Graham Mario Gonzã¡Lez Kermit Zarley Nick Carbone Arizona's 1st Larry Williams Arkansas's 4th Barbara Boehm Laura Myers Leonard Livesay Dale Boehm Marti Monti California's 1st Karen Wanderman Michel Fulkerson A Cameron Keith Shuman Randy Dela Fuente Nicholas Cravotta Kurt Stillman Ryan Stewart Stu Douglas Maran Vedamanikam Thais Zoe California's 2nd Mark Holt Arizona's 7th Cynthia Lamon Michael Norwood James Smith Greg Larsen Roy Patterson Timothy Mccall Ilya Osipov Steve Wanderman Arizona's 8th Patrick Buckley Arizona's 2nd Alan Hoffman Ralph Haney Eileen Otto Ken Cabral Scott Andrews Jeffrey Citron Lawrence Ayala Selwyn Simmons Mark Banister Scott Brauer Shmuel Silverman Luis Millan Steven Rose Stephen Hillenbrand Tina Orr William Cerveny California's 3rd Arizona's 3rd Bruce Lev Brian Wickstrom Doug Masi Arizona's 9th Gene Kennedy Mohammad Ehsani Adam Craft James Burau Tamara Jones Andrew Norman Joselito Real Arizona's 5th Eliezer Rodal Justin Siegel David Beaty Gary Morris Kamilo Feher Ntin Nitin Michael Rahimpour Peter Salmon Shmary Brownstein Tracie Palmer Sam Nguyen Steven Watkins Jahary Malik Siddharth Jain John Coulson Arthur Ollivierre, Md Stephen Perlman California's 4th California's 13th Todd Glassey Angie Myers Bobby Singh Wilfred Lam Bruce Nielsen Francesca Kuglen William Foster Christopher Schuring John Felder Olivier Redon Paul Lambert Kristin Gross Vijay Nadkarni Michael Gutierrez Nicholas Gross California's 19th California's 5th Rob Honeycutt Andre Grouwstra Ivan Rozek Robert Taylor Brian Agee Jeb Burns California's 14th Dennis Ruffer Kim Demerly Daniel Covino Gregorio Ruiz Scott Duncan Jonathan Feuchtwang Marcos Vielma Stephen Geldard Robert Cole Mikhael Lerman James Benner Bill O'Keeffe Ralph Williams California's 7th Mary-Jean Repchuk Robert Dawson Clay Allen Allen Joe Ward Urvashi Bhagat Eric Schmalzel California's 15th Ravi Amble California's 8th Jianfu Wang Bao Tran Jim Slaughter Sid Trani California's 21st Lawrence Glaser California's 17th Melanie Cruz Mykel Larson Albert Penilla California's 22nd William Delatore Ashish Kundu Jesse Vidito California's 9th Bobby Singh Ryan Ruschhaupt Gregory Burler Charles Gibson Shelly Conte Gregory Butler Earl Bright California's 24th Markus Dombois Gurvinder Singh Susan Matsumoto California's 10th Mike Johnson Thomas Riederer Ron Premkumar Jonnala Ty Gabriel Jack Robinson Shikhar Kwatra California's 25th California's 11th Yash Kaushik Christopher Cooper Daniel Flamm Rohit Chandra Fabian Blakley Steven Vorpahl California's 18th Kevin L'Heureux Daniel Callahan B.Susan Currell Matt Shifflett California's 12th David Mcbay California's 26th Benjamin Kanhai David Smith Armen Eloyan Dennis Smith David Yost Doug Walker Jeffrey Brandstetter Guangsheng Zhang Joel Chitiea Paul Peterson James Sanchez Keith Katz Scott Douglas Redmond John Lathrop Patrick Lynch Tackie Jonathan Nancy Mize California's 27th Elena Alegria Amnon Cohen Nick Crane Lynn Walford Carey Jones Parham Fatehi Tina Angermeier Nils Forsblom Ric Kolibar California's 28th Linda Athey Phil Ramos Jonathan Scholtz Amnon M Cohen Fleur Tehrani Kim Peeler Callaway California's 37th California's 46th Scott Comstock Brett Beck Arthur Moncayo Roger Yanagita Jordan Bernhard Jack Bicer David Svengalis California's 38th Parham Fatehi California's 30th Barry & Carol Delfosse Paul Stein Emmanuel Tecson Denise Hewes Robert Deioma Eric Rose Giuseppe Veneziano Scott Peterson Fred Davis James Nelson Dann Gibb Paul Kleiman California's 39th Ken Heaton Robert Sant’ Anselmo Mitch Anderson California's 47th Ronald Olch Rod Ashley Allen Christian Wendy Knecht Shafin Valla Jody Williams Narb Avedissian California's 40th Lorena Dordan Irl Sanders Stephanie Perez Lydie Livolsi David Deily Valerie Love Martin Nguyen California's 32nd California's 41st Maricon Hilario Sow Behl Gene Sherman California's 48th California's 33rd California's 42nd Constance Nash Andrew Scherer Mary White Ed Dellis Derek Gable Matt Gerules Gregg Homer Elonne Danzer Ronald Harman James Carrigan Gina Efros Tom Alexander Jim Meehan James Stavoe California's 44th John M Kevin Aryamehr Thomas Wright Kelvin Quijada Leith Emery Arkady Shafirovich Mehr Arshadi Mark Skarulis California's 45th Mike Rutland Matthew Szymczyk Amar Vakil Mike Van Horst Michael Petroff Arshia Attar Nathaniel Roberts Patricia Anderson Connie Jordan Nicholas Dauderman Robert Tinti David Lee Ron Ballou Sonaleena Hargrove David Wetzel Rowland Day Thomas Hess John Squicciarini Solomon Brown Zafar Khan Joseph Burke Warren Manning Chris Beckman Julie Stone James Kirk California's 35th Liberty Grayson Sri Valarino Dave Morris Mark Aretskin Chris Killer Rob Reyes Martin Nguyen California's 49th California's 36th Muhammad Rahman Andrew Yaros Armia Abdo Andrzej Karolak Michael Martines Babak Forutanpour Brayton Bushby Colorado's 2nd Daniel Esbensen Chris Wilke Barry Stone Donielle Sullivan Dan Garcia Carrie Hafeman Eric Huber Daniel Garcia Charles Mason Gene Mcguinness Dean Mcbain Charles Sagaser Greg Saladino Don Johnson Charlie Mason Jose Sanchez Donata Hammonds Chris Bartlett Lisa Gibson Greg Wawrzyniak Ed Wilson Michael Lucas Jerry Selness Henry Obermeyer Nancy Moon John Burton James Hines Peter Lasensky Mark Svendsen Jeff Samson Raymond Stits Rodolpho Dias Joan Waldron Richard Zaleski Ruth Young-Loaeza Joel Scarbrough Spencer Ivery Saeid Sarir Tom Lavan Stephen Veltman Thomas Diot Mark Levy Thomas Rauscher