Senators Make Last-Ditch Plea to Pass Patent Reform Legislation
"No matter how big a guy was, Nicky would take him on. You beat Nicky with fists, he comes back with a bat, you beat him with a knife, he comes back with a gun, and if you beat him with a gun, you better kill him, ’cause he’ll be coming back and back, until one of you is dead."
- Sam 'Ace' Rothstein (Robert DeNiro): "Casino"
After being stalled for months, a bipartisan group of 25 senators today urged Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring the Manager's Amendment to S.515 of the Patent Reform Act to the Senate floor "for consideration as soon as possible."
According to the letter,
The bipartisam Managers' Amendment to S.515 released by the Judiciary Committee would speed the patent application process, reduce the three-year wait that inventors must endure before obtaining their patents and securing the funding needed to place new products on the market. This comprehensive patent reform legislation would also allow the public to bring forward relevant information to the USPTO during the patent examination process and after the patent has been granted, improving the clarity and quality of patents and providing greater confidence in their validity and enforceability. The Managers' Amendment would also move the U.S. patent system into greater harmony with the rest of the world and bring greater predictability to patent infringement litigation, enabling inventors and businesses to dedicate more resources to inventing and bringing those inventions to market.Read/download a copy of the letter here (link)
See Also TechDailyDose: "Senators Call For Action On Stalled Patent Bill" (link)
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Isn't this a lot of huff and puff without stuff?
Hasn't the House already responded to S.515 and the Manager's Amendment with the subtle, bu tno less blunt message of "This will not be law"?
I posted this same point over at Patent Docs and received the following answer from Don Zuhn:
That is correct. Back in March, a bipartisan group of Representatives, including House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr., released a statement noting that Chairman Leahy's efforts to get the Senate bill passed had proceeded "without adequate input from House members" (see http://www.patentdocs.org/2010/03/house-lacked-adequate-input-on-leahy-patent-reform-bill.html).
Don
I'm glad that the issue of patent reform is not dead, and that members of Congress value IP and are taking steps to improve the lot of the USPTO and patent law. However, we need substantial, substantive reform, which our esteemed senators do not appear to offer us in S. 515.
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