Administration Backs Senate Patent Compromise
The Obama administration is supporting a compromise on patent overhaul legislation unveiled last month by Senate Judiciary Committee leaders, CongressDaily reported. In a letter Tuesday to Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said the compromise "improves the reported bill and incorporates critical elements of patent reform."
Senate Judiciary members approved the panel's version of patent overhaul legislation last year. The Leahy-Sessions compromise, expected to be offered as a manager's amendment on the Senate floor, has helped attract a broad range of supporters, including labor groups, some information technology firms, biotech companies and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
However, a coalition of large IT companies known as the Coalition for Patent Fairness, which includes firms such as Apple, Intel and Google, said it opposes some of the changes in the compromise -- concerns that have been echoed by key members of the House Judiciary Committee. These House lawmakers have been working with Leahy and Sessions to address their concerns.
Locke said he was pleased with provisions included in the compromise to allow the PTO to adjust patent and trademark fees as needed and with post-grant review procedures for "reviewing questions about patent validity that will serve as a faster, lower-cost alternative to litigation."
Leahy urged Senate leaders in a statement Wednesday "to schedule floor time soon for this important job-creating legislation."
A new paper released Tuesday by the Patent and Trademark Office claims the patent overhaul legislation will help spur innovation and economic growth. "By enhancing the ability of America's innovators to secure high-quality patents with greater speed and certainty, this legislation will speed the delivery of innovative goods and services to market and fuel economic growth and job creation," PTO Director David Kappos said in a speech Tuesday.
The paper notes that 76 percent of startup managers say venture capital investors consider patents when deciding whether to provide funding and it also points to reports that argue that the backlog in approving patent applications could cost the U.S. economy billions in "forgone innovation."
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