(DETROIT) – Today, U.S. House Judiciary Chairman Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) responded to U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon’s ruling yesterday that the National Surveillance Agency’s (NSA) bulk metadata collection program, which collects information on virtually all telephone calls in the United States, is likely unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unre... Read more »
Floor Statement of Rep. Melvin L. Watt (N.C.)General Debate in OppositionH.R. 3309, the “Innovation Act” December 5, 2013 M. Chair—I rise in opposition to H.R. 3309. The term “patent troll” has become convenient shorthand to refer to a class of plaintiffs who engage in abusive litigation tactics against deep-pocketed alleged infringers as well as individual inventors and small companies. I recogni... Read more »
Floor Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr.in Support of Conyers-Watt Substitute Amendment H.R. 3309, the “Innovation Act” December 5, 2013 On behalf of Representative Watt and myself, I am offering a substitute amendment that gives members an opportunity to vote for language that will actually address the identifiable abuses in the patent system. These abuses include the inability to ident... Read more »
Floor Statement of the Honorable John Conyers, Jr. H.R. 3309, the “Innovation Act” December 5, 2013 Madam Speaker: There are few economic issues this Congress will face that are more important than our patent law system. Intellectual property is responsible for nearly half of our nation’s gross domestic product and one third of all jobs in the U.S. economy. Our patent system, while not perfect, is... Read more »
Statement of Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. Hearing on: The President’s Constitutional Duty to Faithfully Execute the Laws Committee on the Judiciary Tuesday, December 3, 2013 at 10:00 AM 2141 Rayburn Building The president’s constitutional duty to faithfully execute the laws would be an important issue worthy of a hearing by the full committee if there was any evidence that the president has in... Read more »
(DETROIT) – Today, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights, and Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.), along with Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Congressman Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), and Congressman Luis Guti... Read more »
Today, U.S. House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte announced the Markup of H.R. 3309, the “Innovation Act,” this Wednesday, November 20th. In announcing the Markup, Chairman Goodlatte released a Manager’s Amendment making changes to H.R. 3309. In addition, this afternoon Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) introduced the “Patent Transparency and Improvemen... Read more »
This Monday, the United States Senate will consider the nomination of Judge Robert L. Wilkins to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Over the course of the last month, Senate Republicans have derailed the nominations of two other well-qualified appointees to the same court, considered the second highest in the land, leaving three vacancies in place. In light of... Read more »
Today, the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law held a hearing entitled, “Oversight of the Antitrust Enforcement Agencies.” Specifically, this oversight hearing focused on the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Competition’s antitrust efforts. During his opening remarks, Ranking Member John Conyers... Read more »
