Commerce Secretary Gary Locke wrote to Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy on Monday saying the bill "incorporates the essential elements of patent reform," but lawmakers should go further to address related issues as it heads toward the floor. Leahy, whose panel approved the measure in April, said he wants to work with Majority Leader Harry Reid to tee the bill up for a vote before the end of the year. Read more in CongressDaily here (subscription required).

On the same teleconference, Commerce Department General Counsel Cameron Kerry, who is the younger brother of Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., told reporters that provisions of the Leahy bill are "important to jump-starting the economy again and getting innovation going again." He said the bill is "long overdue" and, if passed, would help the PTO "make the American patent system function the way that it ought to."