Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, plans to reintroduce a patent reform bill in the near future. In a speech yesterday at Georgetown University, Sen. Leahy set forth his legislative agenda for the new Congress. Among other things, he addressed his plans for patent reform.
Sen. Leahy’s previous attempt was passed by the House of Representatives, but never made it to the Senate floor. The senator stated that “[the new bill] will be similar, it will be quite similar in some areas” to the previous bill. He blamed the failure of the Senate to take up the bill on the presidential election. Others, however, might blame it on some of the bill’s controversial provisions, such as its aim to reduce infringement damages. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, found the issue of how to assess damages to be a sticking point to passing the legislation. He never seemed quite able to reach agreement with Leahy on the issue.
The topic of patent reform has often pitted big technology companies, such as the members of the so-called Coalition for Patent Fairness, including Apple, Cisco, Dell, Google, and Microsoft, against large pharmaceutical companies, such as Eli Lilly and Monsanto. Other groups opposing the past attempts at reform include trade unions, the Bush administration, smaller companies and individual inventors, and patent attorneys.
It may be difficult to craft a bill that pleases all of the parties. No compromise has been reached the last few years. Perhaps the change in the administration and the new congressional makeup will make it easier to pass. But, Congress certainly has its hands full with other issues at the moment.
