US Jobs Bill Would Restrict Foreign Access To Patent Applications

As the jobless rate remains high and budgets tight, United States policymakers increasingly are looking for ways to boost domestic innovation in order to create new jobs and boost the economy. One such bill to be announced tomorrow, called the “Strategic Manufacturing & Job Repatriation Act,” aims to develop a national manufacturing strategy to create American jobs, including by lowering access to early patent applications and prioritising university patents.

The legislation would, according to a release from bill sponsor Frank Wolf (Republican, Virginia), “comprehensively align existing federal funding – at no new cost – to support job repatriation and manufacturing growth, study a new tax incentive to encourage repatriation, and bolster intellectual property protection.” Wolf is the ranking Republican on the House of Representatives Commerce, Justice, State subcommittee.

On IP protection, the legislation would restrict “unnecessary foreign access to pending patent applications,” the release said. It also “prioritizes patent applications from American universities to ensure that cutting-edge new technologies may be protected and rapidly-deployed for US firms,” it said.

A provision in the bill involving abstracts of patent proposals would “protect intellectual property by preventing the disclosure of the full patent online prior to the grant of the patent,” an aide to Congressman Wolf told Intellectual Property Watch. Currently, many patent applications are posted online for the public months or years in advance of being granted the patent. This would ensure that only the patent abstract is available online to prevent IP theft.”

A second provision would “prioritize patent applications from universities to help expedite approval of cutting-edge innovations and move to market faster,” the aide said. “American universities are our R&D backbone, but often innovative patents are delayed for years at USPTO waiting approval – while other countries move ahead.”

“This would create a more nimble process for considering cutting-edge innovations coming out of American universities,” he said.

A copy of the bill expected to be introduced tomorrow is available here.