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August 24, 2007

Labor unions join patent reform fight

This news report surprised me as I had never given much thought to the impact patent reform might have on the types of interests represented by Labor Unions.  But it makes sense.

The U.S. patent system provides a barrier to entry for “knock offs” of successful technologies and, as stated below, a large percentage of patents are issued for inventions covering improvements to manufactured goods.  Items that are highly susceptible to production offshore and imported into the U.S. 

According to the AFL-CIO:

But the AFL-CIO letter alluded to recent efforts of the U.S. government and the U.S. tech industry to prod China to strengthen its intellectual property protections. These two changes "may have a negative impact on innovation and research," the AFL-CIO letter said.

"At a time when the Chinese government is constantly being challenged to live up to its intellectual property obligations, we do not want to take actions that may weaken ours." The United Steelworkers letter said nearly 70 percent of patents filed in the U.S. come from manufacturing firms. "These bills would allow an endless loop of legal challenges after patents are awarded that will make it more difficult for U.S. patent holders to prevail against frivolous challenges," the letter said.

Patent reform is truly making some odd bedfellows these days.

Via Labor unions join patent reform fight - addict3d.org.

Posted by Douglas Sorocco at 07:29 PM.
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