PATENT REFORM ACT SCHEDULED TO BE INTRODUCED TODAY: As mentioned on Patently-O and Promote the Progress blogs, the Patent Act of 2005 is expected to be introduced in the House of Representatives later today by Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas. Interestingly, it was good to see that the provision limiting injunctive relief was taken off the table. As Dennis did such a good job highlighting the more important parts of the legislation, I'll simply repeat it here (:P)

The legislation includes:

• Change to a first-to-file system (thus changing the definition of ‘prior art’);
  Changes to the duty of candor (violations will be adjudged by the PTO rather than in court);
• Damages to be limited to the inventive contribution rather than calculated on the selling price of an entire product;
• Limitations on damages for willfulness;
• Automatic stay of injunctions for appeals;
• Limits on scope of continuation applications (to be made by PTO);
• Introduction of a post-grant opposition procedure and submission of prior art by third parties.