奧巴馬籤專利改革法案爲就業法案助力

President Barack Obama has signed legislation to speed the process of approving U.S. patents. The president says the new law is part of his initiative to create jobs and stimulate economic growth.

美國總統奧巴馬已經簽署加快批准美國專利過程的立法。奧巴馬總統表示，新的法律是他創造就業機會，刺激經濟增長方案的部分內容。

President Obama visited a high school for science and technology near Washington Friday to sign the bill, which is part of his bid to improve U.S. economic competitiveness.

奧巴馬總統星期五造訪了華盛頓附近一所科技高中，簽署了這項法案。這項法案是他改善美國經濟竟爭力努力的一部分。

Mr. Obama used one of the country's most famous inventors as an example of why the patent laws needed to be updated.

奧巴馬總統以美國最著名的發明家爲例，解釋專利法爲什麼需要更新。

“When Thomas Edison filed his patent for the phonograph, his application was approved in just seven weeks. And these days, that process is taking an average of three years,” the president said.

他說：“當托馬斯·愛迪生爲他的留聲機申請專利的時候，他的申請僅僅7個星期就獲得了批准。而現在，這個過程平均需要耗費3年的時間。”

The U.S. Patent Office is expected to open more offices and hire as many as 2,000 new patent examiners in the next year.

明年，美國專利局預計將開設更多的辦公室，並僱用多達2千名新的專利審查員。

The president said shrinking a backlog of almost 700,000 applications will help the economy and create jobs.

奧巴馬總統表示，縮小長期積壓的將近70萬件專利申請，有助於幫助美國的經濟增長以及創造就業。

Friday’s bill-signing was the president’s second visit in a week to the politically important state of Virginia. He used the occasion to campaign for his $447 billion jobs legislation.

星期五簽署法案，是奧巴馬總統一週內第二次訪問政治上非常重要的維吉尼亞州。他利用這個場合來爲他的總值4千470億美元就業法案造勢。

“This change in our patent laws is part of our agenda for making us competitive over the long term. But we have also got a short-term economic crisis, a set of challenges that we have to deal with right now. What the American Jobs Act does is it puts more people back to work and it puts more money into the pockets of working Americans,” Obama said.

他說：“對專利法進行這些修改，是爲了長遠地增強我們的競爭力。但是現在我們也有短期的經濟危機，以及一系列挑戰需要應對。美國就業法案所做的，就是要讓更多的人找到工作，同時讓美國勞動者的口袋裏有更多的錢。”

Opposition Republicans in Congress have indicated that they will be willing to pass some parts of the president’s jobs bill, but not others.

國會反對黨共和黨人已經表明，他們願意批准總統所提法案當中的某些內容，但不是全部。John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, is promoting his own proposals for economic growth.

國會共和黨人、衆議院議長貝納正在推銷他自己的經濟增長計劃。

Boehner said this week the joint House-Senate committee considering ways to cut the budget deficit should not allow tax increases.

貝納本週表示，衆議院和參議院聯委會正在考慮的削減預算赤字的途徑，不應當允許增加稅收。

“Tax increases destroy jobs. And the Joint Committee is a jobs committee. Its mission is to reduce the deficit that is threatening job creation in our country. And we should not make its task harder by asking it to do things that will make the environment for job creation in America even worse,” Boehner said.

他說：“增稅會毀掉就業機會。這個聯委會是一個就業委員會。它的使命是減少威脅我們國家創造就業的赤字。我們不應當讓這個委員會完成力所不能及的任務，結果使得美國的就業環境反而變得更糟。”

The White House wants to raise taxes on large corporations and wealthy individuals to help pay for its economic initiatives.

白宮希望通過對大公司以及富人增稅，來爲它的經濟計劃買單。

Boehner also says the president’s economic policies put an excessive burden on companies that could be hiring more people.

貝納同時表示，奧巴馬總統的經濟政策，給可以僱用更多人的公司，增添了額外的負擔。

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says independent economists believe Mr. Obama’s proposals could create between 1.5 million and 2 million jobs.

白宮發言人卡尼表示，獨立經濟學家認爲，奧巴馬總統的計劃可以創造150萬到200萬個工作機會。