Senate Judiciary Committee Releases BillAs I discussed earlier this week, the patent reform debate will begin anew in a matter of days. Today, a bipartisan group of Senators announced their intention to introduce new patent reform legislation when the Senate returns to session next week. The first bill to be introduced on Tuesday (found here), will be known as the “Patent Reform Act of 2011.” The bill is largely the same as the manager’s amendment to S.515, with minor changes. The District Court Pilot program has been dropped (passed in separate legislation this past December). Added, is a provision essentially outlawing patents relating to tax strategies. (see previous post on tax professionals lobbying Congress here). I have not studied the bill in detail, but those were the most obvious changes, most other sections seem identical to S.515.It remains to be seen if such a comprehensive bill can fly, or whether or not it will need to be pared down some to satisfy the substantial lobby interests.On the bright side, the bill has “2011” in the name, so it has to pass this ye

As I discussed earlier this week, the patent reform debate will begin anew in a matter of days. Today, a bipartisan group of Senators announced their intention to introduce new patent reform legislation when the Senate returns to session next week. The first bill to be introduced on Tuesday (found here), will be known as the “Patent Reform Act of 2011.” 

The bill is largely the same as the manager’s amendment to S.515, with minor changes. The District Court Pilot program has been dropped (passed in separate legislation this past December). Added, is a provision essentially outlawing patents relating to tax strategies. (see previous post on tax professionals lobbying Congress here). I have not studied the bill in detail, but those were the most obvious changes, most other sections seem identical to S.515.

It remains to be seen if such a comprehensive bill can fly, or whether or not it will need to be pared down some to satisfy the substantial lobby interests.

On the bright side, the bill has “2011” in the name, so it has to pass this year!