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May 14, 2008
Patent bill update
Rumors circulate in the blogsphere about the fate of the Senate patent reform bill (S 1145). IAM Magazine declares the bill dead: A complete waste of time that has weakened the US patent-owning communities - Intellectual Asset Management:
It has looked dead for a month or so. And now it is. The Patent Reform Act has been officially withdrawn from the schedule of the US Senate and with that decision goes just about any chance it had of being enacted. Once it became clear that no deal was going to be reached over damages apportionment, the writing was on the wall for the proposed legislation When John Whelan, on secondment from the USPTO, packed up his things and left Senator Patrick Leahy’s office and Leahy’s chief counsel started to work on other things, the game was up.
Others have a different take: Patent Reform Act Stalls in the Senate | Electronic Frontier Foundation:
There's no schedule for when the bill will return. Most sources are reporting that the bill is not dead, but it appears that the committee members will have to resolve their differences before patent reform is to continue.
According to Arstechnica: Patent Reform Act suffers serious setback, stalled in Senate:
That doesn't mean that it can't be revived at a future date, but the bill seems to have drawn some opposition at nearly every step of the way, so its passage will likely remain a challenge.
I think "challenge" is the right way to describe this. But having been around the Senate for some time, I can tell you that May is way too early to declare anything dead. Given the possible repeat of a budget deadlock, there is a possibility that this Congress could be in session for a long time. Then again, everything could get wrapped up quickly and everyone home by Columbus Day. You never know.
In any event, there is next year. And this is an issue that is not going away.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at May 14, 2008 8:42 AM
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