WASHINGTON, DC -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 09/25/07 -- In a letter to President Bush, Nobel Laureate John B. Fenn added his voice to a growing group of notable American inventors working to strengthen the patent system and foster innovation and U.S. job creation. The letter released today called on the administration to help fix pending patent legislation that would undermine the role of independent inventors and venture capital in creating new U.S. industries, and increase the control of global corporations over American intellectual property.

The alliance called upon the President to safeguard intellectual property rights in the face of a heated battle by Microsoft, Cisco and other large technology corporations to rush Senate passage of the controversial measure, S. 1145. Its companion measure, H.R. 1908, passed the House on September 14, 2007.

The letter stated: "Protection of intellectual property rights is a fundamental right of Americans. Otherwise, innovation becomes a hollow exercise and American inventions become available for the taking. Without protection and a reward incentive, innovation -- and the venture capital that fuels it -- will wither."

The alliance, led by the Professional Inventors Alliance, consists of thousands of independent inventors and intellectual property experts, including:

--  Nobel Laureate John B. Fenn, a co-winner of the 2002 prize in
    chemistry for developing methods for identification and structure analyses
    of biological macromolecules.

--  Dr. Ray Damadian, creator of magnetic resonance imaging to detect
    cancer in tissue, otherwise known as the "MRI" (patent number 3,789,832).
    Dr. Damadian received the Intellectual Property Owners Education
    Foundation's National Inventor of the Year Award, presented in June, 2007
    by Rep. Howard Berman.

--  Dr. Wilson Greatbatch, creator of the cardiac pacemaker (patent number
    3,057,356).

--  James Fergason, inventor of LCD technology (patent number 3,731,986).

--  Leo Rubin, who developed the implantable cardiac defibrillator
    employing a digital waveform analyzer system (patent number 5,014,701).
    

"Today, when America is under siege from abroad in a trade war, we are gravely concerned for the future of innovation in America and with it America's competitiveness," said the coalition in its letter. "This is the time that America must strengthen our patent system, but the current patent bills (H.R. 1908 and S. 1145) will seriously weaken our patent system and with it will seriously weaken innovation in America and America's competitiveness."

The alliance is urging Congress to strengthen the current patent review process instead of changing the "venerable patent law" that is the foundation for protecting the intellectual property rights of small inventors. Simply providing necessary staffing resources and de-politicizing the review committee appointments process will bring significant improvements, says the group.

The full letter and list of co-signers is available at www.BushOpenLetter9-17-07.PIAUSA.org on the Professional Inventors Alliance website, www.PIAUSA.org. Additional information about members of the National Inventors Hall of Fame can be obtained at www.invent.org.

The Professional Inventors Alliance USA works to protect American invention and encourage innovation by providing the nation's independent inventors a united voice to improve public policy.

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