Senators Kerry and Daschle have introduced a Bill in the Senate (S.1886) that includes a “Small Business Foreign Patent Protection Grant Fund.” The fund is intended provide funds to small businesses who are hoping to file foreign patent applications.
To help small manufacturers and small R&D firms, we need to reduce trade barriers, so that they are able to sell their products and technologies in other countries. Small-business owners commonly cited the expense required to secure foreign patent protection as a significant barrier to their ability to operate in international markets. Part of encouraging the spread of their innovations into other countries is decreasing their vulnerability to big foreign corporations that can take their ideas when they try to sell their products around the world. Our small businesses need patent protection. However, the costs associated with filing such patents are often prohibitively expensive.
(Link to Kerry’s speech discussing the Bill).