The Virginia state Bar, Intellectual Property section, held its 21st Annual Fall Weekend Seminar this past weekend. AIPLA Executive Director Q. Todd Dickinson was one of the speakers. He provided an update on the Patent Reform initiatives in Congress.
He put the odds at slightly higher than 50% that patent reform will make it to the Senate floor during this session of Congress. Pushing to get it to the floor are the Administration and Sen. Leahy (D-VT), who sees it as part of his legacy. The health care debate, however, has been taking up significant floor time. If that debate moves forward, it is unlikely that patent reform will get time; if that debate continues to stall, patent reform could be up soon. It seems less likely that it will make it to the floor after Congress’ Thanksgiving recess that begins in mid-November. They’ve made significant progress on many issues, but it also seems unlikely that it would pass during an election year in 2010.
