Coons, Cotton, Durbin and Hirono Introduce STRONGER Patents Act of 2017

U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) today introduced the Support Technology & Research for Our Nation’s Growth and Economic Resilience (STRONGER) Patents Act of 2017. The bill is an expanded version of Senator Coons’ STRONG Patents Act of 2015 that promotes innovation, competitiveness and economic growth. USIJ wholeheartedly supports this piece of legislation that aims to strengthen America's patent system.

The STRONGER Patent Act fights patent abuse and encourages positive reform by:

  • Reducing repetitive and harassing attacks on patents by authorizing only one review per patent claim;
  • Limiting entities making financial contributions to a patent challenge from making future challenges;
  • Minimizing abuse of post-grant proceedings by ensuring that a petitioner has a business or financial reason to bring a patent case;
  • Ensuring pleading standards for patent-infringement cases match the standards used for all other civil actions;
  • Providing an “expedited” examination procedure instead of amending claims;
  • Eliminating fee diversion from the USPTO; and,
  • Permitting injunctions to protect patent owners against infringement during and after court cases, among other things.

USIJ would like to thank Senators Coons, Cotton, Durbin and Hirono for advocating for a U.S. patent system that helps inventors protect their innovations from infringement and safeguards patents as essential property rights.  

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The Alliance of U.S. Startups and Inventors for Jobs (USIJ) is a group of nearly 50 Silicon Valley-based inventive startups, inventors, investors and entrepreneurs.  Collectively, we have launched dozens of companies in areas ranging from biotechnology to medical devices and wireless technology.  We invent real things and create real companies.  We also rely on the strength of the U.S. patent system to create these companies, breakthroughs and jobs.

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