THBI ACTION ALERTS
Patent Reform Action Alert
The battle is still continuing over patent reform in the United States Senate. The House has passed their version of reform while the Senate is still trying to gather the votes needed to pass S1145, their version of the patent reform legislation, which is why the life science industry needs to continue to keep pressure on our Texas Senators to work on a compromise for this legislation.
We have linked to two documents: a letter from THBI to Senators Cornyn and Hutchison explaining the destructive nature of this bill to the life science industry and a sample letter for you to alter and personalize. When speaking or writing to Senators Hutchison and Cornyn about this patent reform bill, it is necessary that you mention: 1. that you are a constituent, 2. what region of Texas your business is located, 3. the number of employees you have, 4. that you are OPPOSED to S.1145, and 5. how this will personally affect you, your business, and your employees.
It is imperative that we not only weigh in on this issue but that we also keep voicing our concerns loudly in order to keep the pressure on the Senate to not pass S.1145 with these current provisions. Once S.1145 is passed, the differences between it and H.R. 1908, the House patent reform bill, will be worked out behind closed doors in conference committee. Unless we keep pressure on the Senate to come up with compromise language to stick to in negotiations, the life science industry stands to be hit hard. Senator Cornyn is a co-author of this bill so Texas has the potential to contribute greatly to efforts in securing a compromise.
You can contact Senators Cornyn and Hutchison at the following:
Senator John Cornyn
United States Senate
517 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-2934
Fax: (202) 228-2856
http://cornyn.senate.gov
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senate
284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-5922
Fax: (202) 224-0776
http://hutchison.senate.gov
Please relay any responses you receive to THBI's Policy Director, Amber Pearce at amber@thbi.com so that we can continue to compile information on how many life science entities in Texas will be detrimentally affected by the bill as is, and the feedback being received from these two Texas Senators.
