East Texas leaders discuss economic development through intellectual property patents

TYLER, Texas (KETK) – Texas Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R) and East Texas entrepreneurs discussed how the area can be turned into a hub for innovation on Tuesday’s event hosted by the University of Texas at Tyler East Texas Launchpad.

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“As a member of the judiciary committee and further as a member of the subcommittee that deals with intellectual property is something that we know is critical to our economic growth in Texas,” Moran said.

Intellectual property was one of the main topics discussed during the event.

“Otherwise referred to as IP, is the rights for an inventor to actually keep the rights to their invention to be able to monetize those and it prevents from other people infringing on it which is to say, use it without their permission,” Brandon Reynolds, director of UT Tyler’s ETX Launchpad, said.

During the event, Moran said securing people’s rights to intellectual property is necessary as new ideas come to life in the form of legal patents.

“You’re talking about the right of individuals that they have put together, their intellect on paper, to make an idea come to life and we want to protect that,” Moran said.

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Reynolds said it’s about securing the right to your personal invention or idea. The leaders discussed wanting an easier patent process to be made by the government.

“We have this idea, we have this ability to use it, to market it, to develop it without fear of it being taken away,” Reynolds said.

The congressman is taking feedback from the discussion back to D.C. with things already in the works.

“How can we make our U.S. PTO work better for inventors, for developers, those who want to again bring their innovation to life and bring it to market place and so we are going to continue to do that,” Moran said.

Also those in attendance included UT Tyler president Kirk A. Calhoun, Tyler Economic Development Council president and CEO Scott Martinez, Tyler software entrepreneur Phil Burks and current Co-Chair of the Council for Innovation Promotion and former Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Andrei Iancu.

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