Washington ? In the world of small-time inventors, George Margolin, 75, of Newport Beach, Calif., is a resounding success. He has patented a syringe that prevents unwanted needle-pricks, a folding keyboard that was licensed by Hewlett Packard and 25 other devices from the practical to the arcane.

Now Margolin fears his ability to create is threatened by legislation he says would yank patent protections from little guys like him in favor of big corporations like Microsoft.

“The Wright Brothers – two slobs in Dayton, Ohio, who became the airline industry – Edison with his multitude of inventions, they would have all been stifled and stopped by this kind of legislation,” said Margolin, who now makes a comfortable living from his inventions after years when he had to support himself through bartending and other jobs. “It would be absolutely destructive.”

The Patent Reform Act of 2005, sponsored by Reps. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Howard Berman, D-Calif., includes changes supporters say are needed in a system that’s processing more and more patents.

Among other things, the bill seeks to cut down on nuisance lawsuits by “patent trolls” – people who take out patents on products, methods or ideas just so they can sue a company for infringement if it eventually produces something similar.

Inventor George Margolin has patented a folding keyboard, a syringe that prevents unwanted needle-pricks and 25 other devices from the practical to the arcane. Now Margolin fears his ability to create inventions is threatened by legislation he says would yank patent protections away from the little guy in favor of big corporations like Microsoft.

Such lawsuits have bedeviled the high-tech industry, in part because computer technology can involve hundreds or thousands of individual patents per product. The Information Technology Industry Council says patent lawsuits in federal court doubled from 1,200 to 2,400 annually from 1998 to 2001.

The bill would make it easier for patent-holders to fight such lawsuits in potentially friendly legal venues, such as in the judicial district where they are headquartered.

Last year, 380,000 patent applications were filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, compared with 200,000 in 1994. The office says it has a growing backlog of 600,000 applications and a shortage of patent examiners.

“I do believe that there’s a patent quality problem,” Berman said.

To ensure that patents are issued for truly innovative and novel devices, the bill includes provisions allowing patents to be challenged for nine months after they’re issued, and allowing third parties to present evidence to the patent office related to pending patent applications.

Current U.S. law says a patent goes to the person who can show they first invented a device; the pending legislation would give the patent to the person who filed for it first, the method used internationally.

But Margolin and his group, the Professional Inventors Alliance, say the changes would allow big companies to endlessly contest legitimate patents and patent applications. They say the bill would protect corporations with the means to rush to file their applications first over small inventors who actually come up with the idea.