12-04-2024 8:43pm

Mathews Introduces Resolution to Protect Ohio Innovations

Beth Callahan Editor

Adam Mathews represents the 56th Ohio House District, which encompasses a southwestern portion and central Warren County including Lebanon, South Lebanon, and Mason.

COLUMBUS, OH -- House Resolution 562, legislation to protect innovators’ rights, had its first hearing in the Economic and Workforce Development Committee Tuesday, put forward by State Rep. and intellectual property attorney Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon).

The resolution works to protect innovation and help facilitate access to different products as originally intended by the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980. The act has played a pivotal role in helping support manufacturing growth while facilitating the licensing of government-funded research to the private sector. It is now being threatened by a proposal by the Biden-Harris Administration to infringe on previously issued patents.

“Intellectual property rights are fundamental to American progress and are enshrined in the United States Constitution,” said Mathews. “Despite this, the federal government has continued its attempts to overreach and claim what does not belong to it.”

The ‘march in rights’ provision of the Bayh-Dole Act restricts when the federal government can reclaim or relicense patents which used any level of federal funding. The Biden-Harris Administration is trying to expand the provision to allow the government to take patent rights away from owners and give those rights to others.

“House Resolution 562 is the Ohio House’s response to a dangerous proposal from the White House,” said Mathews. “It’s our responsibility to stop the overreach in government in Ohio’s innovation sector.“