Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) applauds the signing by President Barack Obama of "The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act" (H.R. 1249). President Obama will sign the bill today at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia.
American universities and business lead the world in innovation, and innovation drives job creation," said Greg Lucier, chairman and chief executive officer at Life Technologies, a company that holds more than 4,000 patents and exclusive licenses in its Life Science portfolio. "The America Invents Act will play an essential role in ensuring our continued leadership, especially in the fast-growing biotechnology industry."
The America Invents Act strengthens innovators' rights through several measures, including the transition of the U.S. to a first-to-file system, which will reduce the cost and complexity of obtaining patents; simplification of often expensive patent litigation; and, removal of pathways frequently used by patent infringers to prolong and obscure patent attacks.
"The technologies protected by our patents are solving the problems people care about," said Lucier. "Our medical research and diagnostic products are helping to usher in an era of personalized healthcare. Our Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM(TM)) played an instrumental role in identifying the E. coli bacterium behind the German outbreak this summer. Life Technologies products are also being used to convict the guilty, free the innocent and create green energy sources."
Innovation's return on investment to the American public is profound. For example, a 2011 study by the Battelle Institute, sponsored by the Life Technologies Foundation, demonstrated a $796 million return on the federal government's $3.8 million investment in the Human Genome Project. Life Technologies signed a statement in support of the America Invents Act, sponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy and Lamar Smith, along with a group of associations and companies including Novartis, Eli Lilly and BIO (Biotechnology Industry Organization).
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