Senate Judiciary Committee Members Introduce Patent Reform Legislation

Bipartisan patent reform legislation was introduced Wednesday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., along with committee members John Cornyn, R-Texas; Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. The Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship Act, or Patent Act, would “make necessary and commonsense reforms to restore the integrity of the U.S. patent system,” a media advisory said Tuesday. The Patent Act “makes common sense reforms,” Grassley said at a news conference Wednesday. “We’ve been working together on this bill for two years,” Leahy said. “We refused to give up,” he said. “There will be people who oppose this bill,” Schumer said, but “I’m confident this is the year we will finally pass patent reform,” he said. “The president is for patent reform,” as are Republicans and Democrats, Cornyn said. This bill levels the playing field, Schumer said. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said he was “encouraged” by the Senate’s introduction of the bill . “While differences remain between the Innovation Act, which I introduced in the House earlier this year, and the Senate bill, I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact strong, meaningful reforms to curb patent litigation abuses,” Goodlatte said. Adobe Vice President-IP and Litigation Dana Rao and Biotechnology Industry Organization CEO Jim Greenwood said in a news release from Hatch's office that they support the legislation. The Patent and Trademark Office is happy Congress "is actively pursuing legislative efforts to curtail abusive patent infringement litigation practices,” said Director Michelle Lee at another event Wednesday (see 1504290031). CEA and other tech groups were quick to line up Wednesday hailing the bill’s introduction. CEA President Gary Shapiro in a statement said the "common-sense bill" will close "legal loopholes used by those who abuse our patent system." Shapiro said the measure "will stop the legalized extortion of American innovators by patent trolls," who he defined as "individuals or companies that do not manufacture products or supply services, but exist solely to demand payments, threaten litigation and file frivolous lawsuits against those who do." The IT Industry Council, speaking for the "tech sector," is pleased "to see a bipartisan effort emerge in the Senate to put the brakes on patent trolls,” President Dean Garfield said in a statement. “The integrity of the U.S. intellectual property system is essential to advancing cutting-edge breakthroughs. But patent trolls have become a multi-billion dollar industry based on exploiting flaws in the patent system to extort money from legitimate patent holders, including startups and tech companies, through frivolous lawsuits. These needed reforms will help stop abusive patent litigation, which drains money that should be used to invest in entrepreneurship, innovation, and job creation.” The Software & Information Industry Association regards the bill as “an important step forward on patent reform that we believe will be effective in curtailing abusive litigation,” Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy said in a statement. “We strongly support the provisions that will improve transparency, create higher pleading standards, and enforce limits on document discovery. While we see areas for improvement, we believe that the combination of these components creates a strong reform package.” Public Knowledge has "long awaited the day when the Senate would unveil its proposal for patent reform,” said Charles Duan, director of the group’s Patent Reform Project, in a statement: “Abusive patent assertion harms the entire public. ... When bad patents and unfair litigation tactics are combined into a blunt weapon, targeting core everyday technologies, the people directly suffer the consequences. By leveling the playing field of patent litigation in several areas, this bill should protect the technology-consuming public from the harms that patent trolls and other abusers cause.”