The Innovation Act poses a threat to this drug discovery process. The bill creates a host of new administrative hassles for those defending their patents in court. New legal expenses and time burdens could deter researchers from pouring funds into drug development because the patents that make such development financially viable would be harder to enforce (NewsWeek).

The Federal Reserve is moving toward raising interest rates from record lows — just not likely yet. On Wednesday, when it ends its latest policy meeting, Fed officials will issue a statement that will be parsed for clues to just when the first rate increase since 2006 might occur (Associated Press).

Inventors working on a fixed budget should consider more affordable options. The USPTO offers an excellent web tutorial on how to conduct a preliminary U.S. patent search (Entrepreneur).