Leahy To Re-Introduce Patent Bill Next Week
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and two Republican colleagues Thursday released the text of their proposed Patent Reform Act of 2011, saying they plan to introduce the measure when the Senate returns next week.
The bill had been expected after Leahy announced earlier this month his intention to revisit patent reform this year. According to a statement from the senators, the legislation is based on a plan proposed in the 109th Congress by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, and Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., and also includes provisions from a compromise measure Leahy developed last year with Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who served as Judiciary ranking member in the last Congress.
Leahy said the bill represents a "commonsense, bipartisan effort to protect jobs and bolster the economy."
Senate Judiciary ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, will join Leahy in pushing the bill this Congress. "Reforming our patent system is a critical priority whose time has more than come. It is essential to growing our economy, creating jobs and promoting innovation in our nation," Hatch said in a statement.
Industry observers say that Leahy has expressed an interest in pushing the legislation through committee to get it to the point the legislation was at last year. The bill has been put on the Judiciary Committee's agenda for its Jan. 27th markup.
But some groups are already anticipating opposition to the plan. "We will reserve judgment until we see the final bill, but if it's anything like the last one, we will oppose it," Mark Isakowitz of the Coalition for Patent Fairness, which represents tech firms such as Google, Intel and Oracle, told Tech Daily Dose Thursday before the bill's text was released.
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