A groundswell of grassroots conservative activists and Tea Party members are alerting members of Congress to the dangers of patent  legislation which will soon come to a vote in the House.  Even highly respected scholars of the Hoover Institution have weighed in heavily against the bill and the negative impact it will have on the freedom and prosperity of the American people.  No matter how loud the protest, and how respected the critics, it appears the patriots’ plea fall on deaf ears.

For constitutional conservatives, there is little to like in this bill.  H.R. 1249 is in reality designed to transform America’s patent system into one that is more like the patent systems in Europe and Asia.  It’s called harmonization and it won’t work to the interests of the American people anymore than remodeling our healthcare system to more closely resemble socialist systems in Europe.

It is critical that patriots mobilize and act  to defeat this attempt to dramatically reduce America’s protection of the ownership rights of inventors and writers, which was stipulated directly in the Constitution.  This bill was rushed through the Senate and, equally fast,  ushered through the House Judiciary Committee.  The House Rules Committee is now preparing to send this Patent Ripoff bill to the House floor this week.  This despite the undisputed facts that the bill:

— Changes 200 years of American Patent law.  The American patent system was designed to protect inventors.  Supreme Court Justice John Roberts held in Board of Trustees of the LeLand Stanford Junior University vs. Roche Molecular Systems, Inc, that “[s]ince 1790, patent law has operated on the premise that rights in an invention belong to the inventor.” This will no longer be the case should the Smith-Leahy bill become law.  The bill changes American patent law into European patent law by granting patents to those who file first – giving big corporations and their team of lawyers opportunities to steal ideas from innovators.

— Rewards Big Banks and Wall Street.  Section 18 of the bill was included in the legislation specifically to reward big banks.  The New York Times profiled the efforts by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to help banks void patents that have already been issued.  This violates the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution and constitutes a “takings” without just compensation.  The recipients of TARP and the biggest bailout in American history should not be getting rewarded with more special privileges.

—    Is Fiscally Irresponsible.  House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers are fighting the bill because it undermines fiscal conservatism by making spending for the Patent and Trademark Office mandatory.  You can’t cut mandatory spending.  Such a change would make difficult efforts to balance our budget even harder.

We are running out of time.  The House Leadership may move the bill to the floor this week.  It’s critical that activists weigh in immediately to save the American patent system from those who would remodel it after foreign systems.  H.R. 1249 needs to be defeated – NOW.

Email your Congressman NOW and urge them to vote NO on H.R. 1249, the so-called “America Invents Act” that is in reality the “Patent Ripoff” bill.