Although we haven’t heard much about Patent Reform in the last few weeks, Scott McKeown, Partner at Oblon Spivak and Practice Center Contributor, discusses below why he believes we will still see some form of patent reform in 2011.
Overhaul to U.S Patent System Awaits Further Debate
There has been true progress toward enacting patent reform in 2011. First, in March,S.23 was shepherded through the Senate in a matter of weeks by Senator Leahy. Next the House took up H.R. 1249. The House companion bill includes much of the same, if not identical provisions to S.23. A few weeks back H.R. 1249 was refined by Manager Amendment and voted out of committee for floor debate.
With the House now back in session, H.R. 1249 will now await its turn in the legislative queue. An early summer debate (mid-late June) seems likely based upon the current House calendar. During this debate, key provisions of the bill will likely be attacked anew, further amendments have been promised.
Prospects for bill passage, at least in some form, still seem very high. With the current PTO budget crunch, fee diversion will likely be a significant rallying cry for suporters.
Stay Tuned.
Tags: America Invents Act, H.R. 1249, Manager Amendment, Patent Reform, S.23, Senator Leahy
In the current political environment, I can’t imagine the House’s version of so-called patent reform getting passed by Congress, unless it does away with the more controversial post-grant, prior-user, and grace period provisions (for starters). Of course, stranger things have happened. But I still don’t understand why certain legislators are pushing to pass such a comprehensive bill with so many contentious provisions, when they could much more easily (and, arguably, more justifiably) enact a patent reform bill that mandated nothing except an end to fee diversion. Oh, wait, I do understand — lobbyists.