The story is every inventor’s nightmare: A small innovative company develops a breakthrough technology. A much larger company takes notice. Shortly thereafter, it launches a suspiciously similar product.

American innovation is under attack. Across the country, it’s increasingly difficult for startups and inventors to protect their inventions from large companies that want to steal them.

As a new Congress prepares to take the reins in January, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are racing against the clock to tackle the mountain of pending legislation that awaits their attention.

As a new Congress prepares to take the reins in January, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are racing against the clock to tackle the mountain of pending legislation that awaits their attention.

More than 120 corporate giants have just issued a joint letter putting themselves squarely on the side of patent infringers and against America’s smaller innovative companies.

A federal rules committee last month agreed to look at whether to disclose litigation financing, and a bill is pending in Congress.

For 14 years advocacy organisations have pushed the government for regulations on the legal finance industry and they are finally making headway in Congress and the federal judiciary.

“These massive companies would like the courts to believe that they are only interested in ‘transparency’ and ‘fairness. But their effort is about solidifying their unfair advantage in the justice system.” – Kristen Osenga, Inventors Defense Alliance

“If we don’t allow them to have funding, your patent has no value to you, because you can’t afford a sustained litigation battle,” says Kristen Osenga of the Inventors Defense Alliance