Urgent: Patent Reform Legislation Accelerated

September 4, 2007

In late July, patent reform bills were reported by both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees and it now appears that the bills could be brought to the respective floors for debate as soon as the end of this week. Considerable opposition, as well as support, emerged over the congressional recess, and it is not at all clear what may happen when full debate occurs. OIDA recommends that its member companies quickly review the proposed legislation and, if they have concerns, contact their legislators immediately.

Good summaries of the bills as reported and the opposing positions are difficult to find online. One exception is the patent page of the law firm Fish and Richardson (no endorsement implied), which contains links to the latest versions of the bills and other useful resources. Among the proposals is a switch to “first to file” priority instead of “first to invent.”

Republican leadership has called for delaying debate on the bills to allow further study, and that position is being echoed by some high tech groups, including IEEE-USA.