Patent Reform Inches Forward

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday dithered over changes to a proposal that would overhaul the nation's patent laws for the first time in 50 years. While the committee unanimously approved picayune revisions to the bill (.pdf), the more contentious issues were shelved for further debate, giving the tech and pharma lobbies yet another opportunity to splatter themselves and any legislator in range with heavy bluster. A pack of Republicans fired off a letter to the committee chairmen earlier this month that summed up their gripes with several of the measures in the legislation:

"[W]e believe that the issue of mandatory apportionment of damages, post-grant opposition, and broad rulemaking authority for USPTO need to be more carefully examined to ensure that they do not undermine innovation, increase frivolous litigation, or undermine property rights."

You can read the full letterhere (.pdf) None of the co-signers of the letter showed up yesterday to mark up the bill.