After months of delays and postponed hearings , it now appears the push to enact legislation targeting "patent trolls" has been indefinitely suspended, after Sen. Patrick Leahy D-VT , the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced earlier this week he was pulling his proposed bill from the committee docket.
While the House overwhelmingly passed patent reform legislation last year, and Senate efforts thus far have focused on enhanced pleading requirements, limitations on discovery, more stringent requirements for patent demand letters, and less exacting standards for awarding attorney fees to prevailing parties. There appeared to be fairly strong bipartisan support behind compromise language put forward by Sens.
John Cornyn R-Tex. But then later that morning, Leahy issued his statement nixing the agreement. Groups pushing back on the legislation included the Innovation Alliance, the Biotechnology Industry Association, assorted universities, and other research institutions fearful that the new language could impinge on their ability to enforce their IP. In a letter they sent on Tuesday, they reasoned that the proposed bill would go "far beyond what is necessary or desirable to combat abusive patent litigation, and would do serious damage to the patent system.
Cornyn noted, that "the majority leader has allowed the demands of one special interest group to trump a bipartisan will in Congress and the overwhelming support of innovators and job creators. So now it's back to the drawing board. The next best chance for passage of any type of patent reform this year—and it's a slim one—seems to lie in a lame-duck congressional session following the November elections.
Stay tuned for more. This post is for general information purposes only and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice. No attorney-client relationship is formed. Blog January 29, Blog January 22, Blog January 21, Blog January 15, Blog January 8, Blog January 7, Blog December 12, Blog December 11, Article December 4, Article November 20, Blog May 23, Patent "troll" reform efforts on hold indefinitely.
