On January 22, Senator Arlen Spector (R-PA) introduced S. 299 and Reps. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) introduced H.R. 628. These bills seek to establish a pilot program for district judges to obtain training and expertise in patent cases. The legislation is an attempt to redress the high reversal rate in patent cases at the Federal Circuit. Similar bills were introduced in the previous two congresses. Each time, the bills passed the House, but were never considered by the Senate. The new bills have each been assigned to their respective judiciary committees.
Under the proposed legislation, 15 district courts would be chosen to be a part of the pilot program where the judge and the judge’s clerks receive special training in patent law and technical issues. If a patent case is randomly assigned to a judge in the district who is not a part of the pilot program, the judge can pass the case to the pool of judges who are a part of the program. In this way, patent cases within participating districts would generally be handled by judges who have an interest in patent law and who have special training in the specialized area of the law. The pilot project would last 10 years.
