Once More With Feeling: Patent Reform Introduced, And This Time The Trial Lawyers May Not Be Able To Kill It

from the will-it-make-a-difference dept

This was widely expected, but Rep. Goodlatte has now officially re-introduced his patent reform bill, which largely mirrors the one that sailed through the House with ease a little over a year ago (in part because they took out some of the key parts). The Senate bill was a bit stronger and was on the verge of passing until the trial lawyers called up Senator Harry Reid, and had him flat out kill the bill, despite widespread bipartisan support. As we noted at the time, it seemed like the trial lawyers may have miscalculated, because it was already clear that the Republicans were likely to gain control over the Senate in the 2014 elections (as they did), and they were not interested in bowing down to the trial lawyers.

Hopefully that means that a decent patent reform bill will actually make it through Congress this time around, but it still seems likely that, while it may help around the edges, the final bill probably won't be strong enough to fully solve the problems. Still, it's a good step forward, and at the very least, in clearing out some of the problems with the current system (often highlighted via trollish behavior) it will shine the light on remaining problems in the system.

Filed Under: congress, patent reform, patent trolls, patents

13 People Tweeting To Urge The Senate To #FixPatents

from the enough-with-the-trolls dept

This post originally appeared on the CEA Blog.

Following the recent one year anniversary of the House passage of the Innovation Act — a bill that would have stopped patent trolls from suing tech entrepreneurs but was ultimately blocked in the Senate — CEA highlights the top Twitter accounts covering the issue and the harm that patent trolls have on small businesses across the U.S.
 
1.      @juliepsamuels
 
Previously with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Executive Director of Engine Advocacy, Julie is arguably the top voice covering patent reform inside and outside the social media realm. Her blend of legal analysis and witty commentary breaks down the patent troll issue in a comprehensive, digestible form.

Alice v CLS & following cases are incredibly promising, but we still need legislation to #fixpatents. Thoughts: http://t.co/ws5YNuexdq

— Julie Samuels (@juliepsamuels) October 22, 2014

2.      @mainstpatents
 
The Main Street Patent Coalition is a non-partisan group of organizations dedicated to clubbing patent trolls. With members ranging from the National Retail Federation to the American Gaming Association, their tweets highlight why common sense reform is critical to stopping patent abuse.

If trolls continue to shake down small businesses w/o consequences or costs, these scams will continue. We must #FixPatents.

— Main St. Patents (@MainStPatents) October 3, 2014

3.      @Charles_Duan
 
As the Director of Patent Reform at Public Knowledge, Charles knows a thing or two about how patent trolls have used the current legal system to their advantage.

Patents should be written for people, not for lawyers https://t.co/z8SAV2RyhA #patentreform #fixpatents

— Charles Duan (@charles_duan) September 30, 2014

4.      @Nafierce
 
CEA’s Innovation Movement is keeping the pressure on the Senate by reaching out to tech enthusiasts across the country to tell their Senators to take action – since trolls cost the U.S. economy $1.5 billion every week! NYC’s Nafees is a top advocate helping to tackle this issue.

Tell the Senate to focus on patent reform during the lame duck: http://t.co/szqyuKoBF1 Sign the petition. #fixpatents

— Nafees Nuruddin (@Nafierce) October 22, 2014

5.      @leechcheng
 
Lee, Newegg’s Chief Legal Officer, vowed to never settle with a patent troll – and so far, he has a perfect record fighting them in court. Because getting the Senate to #FixPatents is something Lee is passionate about, he uses Twitter as tool to spread that message.

Tell the Senate to #ClubtheTrolls and pass patent litigation reform http://t.co/p3ybA5LNGA #fixpatents. Text 52886.

— Lee Cheng (@leechcheng) April 29, 2014

6.      @PatentProgress
 
Patent Progress, off-shoot of the Computer and Communications Industry Association, advocates for smart laws regulating the digital economy. When not trying to save the U.S. economy from patent trolls, this Twitter account often features comics and videos finding humor in the legalized extortion that is patent trolling.

[COMIC] A Patent Troll Explains the Drop in Suits (featuring the @CEA troll!) http://t.co/If2qTk5CDa #fixpatents pic.twitter.com/cdeVN7jycG

— Patent Progress (@PatentProgress) October 29, 2014

7.      @HouseJudiciary
 
If you’re looking for insight about the Innovation Act in 140 characters, go straight to the source. Representative Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sponsored the Innovation Act and helped to lead its charge out of committee in 2013.

#OTD: 1908 - Henry Ford intro'd Model T; sued by #patenttroll! #InnovationAct helps reduce frivolous lawsuits. https://t.co/99A06QUNPB

— House Judiciary Cmte (@HouseJudiciary) October 1, 2014

8.      @jeffjohnroberts
 
Both a lawyer and policy reporter, Jeff offers great insight on the legal loopholes that enable patent trolls to extort tech entrepreneurs.

Want to invest in wearables or online video? Get ready to pay Intellectual Ventures' patent troll tax: https://t.co/7vXHYmvkki

— Jeff Roberts (@jeffjohnroberts) November 4, 2014

9.      @toddmoore
 
Todd founded the White Noise app and quickly learned what it means to fight a patent troll when his innovative product began to receive recognition. Patent trolls go after successful startups that are least able to defend themselves, and Todd has taken on a personal crusade to see their racket put to a stop.

Tell the Senate to actually do something this time w/ patent reform: http://t.co/jK6lOY5Bzr Sign the petition. #fixpatents

— Todd Moore (@toddmoore) October 22, 2014

10.  @techdirt
 
Techdirt's own Mike Masnick consistently provides timely coverage of extortionist patent troll lawsuits.

Rackspace Helps Kill A Patent Troll: Rotating Your Smartphone Is No Longer Infringing http://t.co/k9Cihy9GKr

— techdirt (@techdirt) September 25, 2014

11.  @binarybits
 
Timothy has a knack for explaining complex issues affecting the tech community in a short, concise manner – so it should come as no surprise that he is now serving as the senior editor of Vox.com and uses Twitter to succinctly breakdown the issue of patent litigation reform.

A lot of businesses targeted by patent trolls are so small that the costs of mounting a defense can bankrupt them.

— Timothy B. Lee (@binarybits) October 9, 2014

12.  @AppsAlliance
 
With members ranging from Intel to Lyft, the App Developers Alliance supports entrepreneurs by advocating for smart public policies. Their Twitter account is a great resource for all things tech policy, especially the importance of patent litigation reform.

It’s the shadiest business I've ever seen & they’re picking on the small guys, says @ToddMoore who was sued by a #PatentTroll. #FTCHangout

— Apps Alliance (@AppsAlliance) September 24, 2014

13.  @ArsLaw
 
Last, but certainly not least, Ars Technica’s Twitter account dedicated to covering the intersection of technology, law and policy features the latest articles from Joe Mullin, whom we dub “patent troll editor-in-chief.”
 

NetApp sticks biggest “patent troll” with $1.4M fee sanction http://t.co/tiZl98StqR by @joemullin

— Ars Tech Policy (@ArsLaw) October 2, 2014

---

The Innovation Movement, sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association, unites those who believe innovation is critical to American global leadership and economic growth. The Innovation Movement uses grassroots advocacy tools to support smart public policies, like patent litigation reform, that foster startups and innovation. To learn more about the Innovation Movement’s work fighting patent trolls, visit trollticker.com, follow on Twitter @imovement and like Innovation Movement on Facebook.

Filed Under: innovation act, patent reform, patents, sponsored post

One Year Since The Innovation Act, And Still No Patent Reform

from the time-to-push-harder dept

One year ago this week, the House overwhelmingly passed bipartisan patent reform legislation — the Innovation Act — to stop patent trolls from suing innovators, collecting billions, costing jobs and undermining economic growth. The Senate failed to act, but there’s no reason this bipartisan bill should not become law.

Contact your U.S. Senator and ask them to pass patent litigation reform! »

What is a patent troll? Think of a school bully.

Much like a kid handing over his lunch money to a bully, patent trolls are extortionists who sue small companies for money. Patent trolls do not create jobs or products, but instead get rich by suing or threatening litigation to extract licensing fees from businesses and tech entrepreneurs.

In 2011 the founder of TMSOFT, Todd Moore became acquainted with patent trolls when Lodsys, a patent holding company aka patent troll, sued Moore over the "White Noise” mobile app he developed.  The patent troll letter said Moore was in violation of 4 of their patents. Lodsys doesn’t even produce apps or anything for that matter.

Small business owners like Moore aren’t the only victims of patent trolls. Patent extortionist Lodsys went ahead and also sued Walt Disney Company over apps.

Big or small, no one is safe from patent trolls. UNLESS Congress takes action and changes our laws. Patent trolls bleed $80 billion a year from the U.S. economy, that’s 1.5 billion a week!

The House has taken action, now it is up to the Senate.

---

The Innovation Movement, sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association, unites those who believe innovation is critical to American global leadership and economic growth. The Innovation Movement uses grassroots advocacy tools to support smart public policies, like patent litigation reform, that foster startups and innovation. To learn more about the Innovation Movement’s work fighting patent trolls, visit trollticker.com, follow on Twitter @imovement and like Innovation Movement on Facebook.

Filed Under: innovation act, patent reform, patents, sponsored post

As Expected: Trial Lawyers Made A Huge Miscalculation In Killing Recent Patent Reform

from the have-fun-guys dept

Back in May, we wrote about how, despite pretty much everyone agreeing on a (decent, if not amazing) patent reform bill in the Senate, the whole thing got shot down at the last minute. That was when the trial lawyers called Senator Harry Reid, asking him to kill the whole thing, which he did by telling Senator Patrick Leahy that he wouldn't allow the bill to go to the floor for a vote. This came after months of detailed negotiations, getting nearly everyone into agreement on the bill, which would have made life at least somewhat more difficult for patent trolls. About a week after that, we pointed out that it seemed likely that the patent trolls had miscalculated badly, because it was widely expected that the Republicans would take control of the Senate in the fall (as they did), and they were more gungho on real patent reform and (obviously) not concerned with what trial lawyers think (mocking trial lawyers being a hobby of Republican politicians).

And, indeed, that prediction appears to have been quite accurate. Senator Orrin Hatch -- who is seen as something of a copyright maximalist though apparently doesn't feel that way about patents -- went on the attack against patent trolls in a floor speech. Hatch doesn't mince words and flat out calls out the trial lawyers for killing the recent patent reform attempt. Furthermore, as Vox reports, other Republicans in the Senate appear eager to take on patent trolls, going even further than the legislation that was almost agreed to earlier this year. In fact, Hatch made it clear that he wants stronger fee-shifting in patent reform than what was in the last bill -- and that was the issue that most worried the trial lawyers. It was pretty obvious this was going to happen back in May. It's fairly incredible the trial lawyers (and Harry Reid) didn't recognize this at the time.

Hatch's speech touched on a few other issues -- some good, some bad. He's pushing new federalized trade secret laws. This is a really bad idea, which we'll be discussing in more detail later. However, he also supports ECPA reform -- something that we've supported for years and has never gone anywhere in Congress. He brought up some other important issues, including immigration for high skilled workers. So the speech was definitely a mixed bag, but it had a lot of good points (unless you're a patent troll or a trial lawyer).

Filed Under: orrin hatch, patent reform, patent trolls, patents, trial lawyers

Judges Want To Make Life Harder On Patent Trolls: Want Them To Actually Have To Explain What Infringement Happened

from the twiqbal dept

I'd missed this one, but Cory Doctorow over at BoingBoing points our attention to the fact that, last month, the Judicial Conference voted to make a little-noticed change in patent lawsuits that should serve to make life more difficult for patent trolls. The details here are more complex than necessary, but the short version is that, under current rules, to file a patent infringement case, the initial complaint can be almost entirely bare bones: basically naming the plaintiff, defendant, patent and saying there's infringement, but providing no real details on the infringement. That aids patent trolls, who often will file questionable lawsuits without even telling the defendant where the infringement occurs -- leading defendants to have to go into the case a bit blind, and making it more appealing to just settle.

A key part of the patent reform proposal that everyone thought was going to happen earlier this year was to change those rules to require the patent holder to have to actually explain where the infringement occurred -- basically inching up the bar to filing a patent lawsuit. Then the trial lawyers came in and killed patent reform dead with a call to Senator Harry Reid. However, it looks like the courts may want to take this matter into their own hands. The Judicial Conference sets the rules by which the courts work under, and it appears that it's basically decided to implement this change in rules (bringing patent lawsuits more in line with most regular lawsuits) anyway, no matter what happens with Congress, though the Supreme Court needs to approve first. Given the way the Supreme Court has handled patent cases lately, it would be surprising if they had a problem with this particular change.

Slowly, but surely, it looks like the courts themselves are chipping away at the setup that makes patent trolling so profitable.

Filed Under: claims, judicial conference, patent reform, patent trolls, patents

Following Backlash, White House Realizes Guy Who Opposed Obama's Own Patent Reform Plan Shouldn't Lead The Patent Office

from the how-did-it-even-get-that-far? dept

A little over a week ago, it came out that President Obama was on the verge of appointing a former pharmaceutical industry exec, who had spent years fighting against the very kind of patent reform that President Obama supported, to be head of the USPTO. It was a little odd how the news came out -- as it seemed to be clearly "leaked" to a few folks in the press that Phil Johnson was likely to be the nominee. However, the move was pretty quickly condemned, and now the same folks are saying that the White House has changed its mind, and will not offer the position to Johnson.

At the very least, that suggests that the "leak" of his name was something of a trial balloon, to see how it would go over -- and the vocal rejection (including by big patent reform supporter Senator Chuck Schumer) made the White House realize that it would be in for a pretty angry fight over the nomination. Hopefully, the next nominee isn't someone who has vocally fought against the President's own position on patent reform...

Filed Under: director, patent reform, patent trolls, pharmaceuticals, phil johnson, uspto
Companies: johnson & johnson

Obama To Appoint Pharma Patent Lawyer, Who Has Fought Against Any Patent Reform, To Head Patent Office

from the because-of-course dept

Late last year, as the White House still hadn't found a successor to David Kappos to run the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the head of the Silicon Valley USPTO office, Michelle Lee (a former Google patent lawyer) was appointed the interim director -- freaking out a bunch of patent maximalists, who like to argue (sometimes in our comments) that it's all a plot to undermine the patent system from the inside. Lee actually gave a great speech at Stanford last week, in which she laid out many of her views that are hardly anti-patent, but which at least recognize that there are other keys to innovation beyond patents. Basically, she presents herself as a moderate, recognizing that there are important nuances here:

As many of you know, I’m a longtime user of the patent system. I’ve been a scientist in a laboratory. I’ve represented inventors and innovative businesses, patent plaintiffs, and patent licensors. I am now the head of the agency charged with examining and issuing patents.

That said, I’ve also been on the other side of countless demand letters and lawsuits from patent holders, and have spent a good part of my career representing patent defendants and licensees—including against so-called “patent trolls.” In fact, I’ve even argued on behalf of clients that some patents should be invalidated.

Now, I wouldn’t call myself “anti-patent,” nor would I call myself “pro-patent,” whatever those labels mean. But let me be clear: I am, without reservation, “pro-patent system.”

What do I mean by "pro-patent system"? It means that I believe that a strong patent system is essential to fostering the innovation that drives our economy. I recognize that our patent system is not something that exists in the state of nature, but is the result of policy decisions made by Congress and the Courts that weigh the costs of patent exclusivity against its benefits. We are constantly reexamining those policy decisions, to make sure the benefits continue to outweigh the costs.

I believe that, for the most part, the benefits do outweigh the costs, but we need to be clear about what those benefits and costs are, and about the realities underlying innovation today. Patents are not the only drivers of innovation. The first entity to bring a product to market has a first-mover advantage that provides an incentive to innovate on its own, even if no patents are ever sought or granted. Some firms opt for an open source model, where they benefit from the network effects of the widespread adoption of a technology they developed. We also know that reputation and branding—with or without trademark protections—play a large role in facilitating innovation. And, of course, there are a large number of innovations protected by trade secrets or by copyrights, not by patents.

And yet, patents still play a critical role in promoting innovation. Patent exclusivity—that is, the right of a patent owner to exclude others from using the patented invention—provides a unique route for inventions to find their way to the marketplace. Even with a patent, an inventor requires access to capital, developing a prototype, finding channels of distribution, and more before he—or increasingly, she—can get it to the market. Exclusivity protects the competitive position of a new entrant to the marketplace, which in turn attracts investment. And that plays an essential role in giving inventors and investors the confidence to take the necessary risks to launch products and start businesses.

There's a lot more in there that's worth reading. I can't recall ever seeing a head of the patent office open to even recognizing that patents are not the be-all and end-all of innovation. I can't recall ever seeing a head of the patent office even willing to admit that there could be costs to the patent system that need to be weighed against the benefits. For the most part, they've tended to just want to expand the patent system on the assumptions that "patent = good; more patents = better." So this kind of speech was actually both surprising and refreshing.

And, of course, just days later, it appears that President Obama is poised to appoint a long-time pharma industry patent-maximalist who has spent years fighting against patent reform, to take over as the director of the USPTO. One can hope that, just as Lee didn't turn out to be a total patent hater, but rather a moderate who was trying to find a middle ground, that the same will be true with Phil Johnson, the former executive from pharma giant Johnson and Johnson -- but I have my doubts.

In December, Johnson testified before the Senate on behalf of the 21st Century Patent Coalition, a group of companies who opposed a bill that would have made it easier for defendants to challenge low-quality patents, and to recover legal costs in the face of frivolous patent lawsuits. (Johnson’s group ultimately prevailed last month when Senate Democrats killed the bill altogether.) Johnson has also opposed previous patent reform initiatives, describing them as “almost everything an infringer could ever want.”

Last year, President Obama came out surprisingly strongly against patent trolls and in favor of comprehensive patent reform. Of course, after lots of negotiations on reform proposals, a combination of trial lawyers and big pharma -- from where Johnson came -- stepped in to kill the whole process dead. That certainly does not bode well for patent reform under the likely next director of the USPTO.

Filed Under: barack obama, david kappos, michelle lee, patent reform, patents, phil johnson, uspto
Companies: johnson & johnson

Why The Trial Lawyers May Have Miscalculated In Killing Patent Reform, And How It May Come Back To Bite Them

from the better-patent-reform-next-year dept

As we noted last week, it was really the trial lawyers (with some help from pharma) that killed patent reform. While patent trolling operations and some big legacy companies with giant patent portfolios had been fighting against patent reform all along, they weren't responsible for killing it outright. In fact, in talking to many people involved, the same story comes up again and again: pretty much everyone was negotiating on a deal -- and, at the last minute, the trial lawyers called Harry Reid, who told Leahy to kill the bill. Joe Mullin quotes a tech industry lobbyist who notes that "I feel like a mouse who never knew he was a mouse," and that despite all the negotiating, the trial lawyers just put an end to it:

"We felt really good the last couple of days," said the tech lobbyist. "It was a good deal—one we could live with. Then the trial lawyers and pharma went to Senator Reid late this morning and said that's it. Enough with the children playing in the playground—go kill it."

Some have asked why trial lawyers (rather than patent lawyers) were so against it, and the key thing is that the trial lawyers don't want anything to do with fee shifting. They fear, greatly, that if fee shifting is shown to be effective in patent cases, it will then make it easier to spread to other types of cases. This isn't a huge surprise. Nearly a year ago, a high ranking Democratic Congressional staffer told me flat out that "fee shifting has to be off the table" because "the trial lawyers will never allow it." I was actually surprised that it stayed in the bill as long as it did.

But here's the thing: having the trial lawyers kill the bill outright may be incredibly shortsighted. That's because this bill was already pretty weak overall. All that "bipartisan negotiating" and lobbying pressure from patent trolling operations (and big tech firms who didn't want to lose the ability to exploit giant portfolios of bad patents) had basically weakened this bill drastically already. Even the fee shifting was pretty limited and unlikely to have a huge impact.

But the problem of patent trolls still remains.

And here's the big thing. The Republicans are very much in favor of patent reform, and many prognosticators expect the Republicans to take control of the Senate in this year's elections. As lawyer Matt Johnson points out, with the Republicans in control over both houses, much stronger patent reform might go through in the next Congress, and there won't be much the trial lawyers will be able to do about it. Republicans aren't known for bending to the whims of trial lawyers.

In the interest of making a deal with Democrats this year, Cornyn offered major concessions on fee-shifting, heightened pleading, and discovery abuse during his negotiations with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Those concessions won’t necessarily be on the table next year in a GOP-controlled Senate. And House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte may similarly be unmotivated to make concessions with Democrats in his chamber. Moreover, the trial bar certainly can’t count on the President to be a backstop. President Obama has championed many of the litigation reforms they oppose, including loser-pays and heightened pleading standards.

Reform opponents made the calculation that they’ll take their chances in 2015 rather than swallow a bipartisan compromise this year.

As he says, "this year’s Schumer-Cornyn deal is probably as good as it gets" for those looking to limit patent reform. Next year, the trial lawyers may be able to call Harry Reid, but it might not matter at all.

Filed Under: congress, harry reid, patent reform, patent trolls, patents, patrick leahy, trial lawyers

Can Senator Leahy Actually Get Anything Done To Help With Civil Liberties And Innovation?

from the weakest-'powerful'-senator dept

Senator Patrick Leahy is often considered one of the most powerful Senators. He's the most senior Senator, third in the presidential line of succession (after the VP and the Speaker of the House) and the head of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. He's often presented as a "friend" to both the technology and civil liberties communities -- even though many in both of those communities still view him skeptically for his all out support for dangerous copyright legislation in the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), which would have seriously messed with the underlying DNS structure of the internet. Even so, on a variety of other issues, including NSA reform, ECPA reform and patent reform, he's often been seen as leading the charge.

But over and over again, it seems that charge is... to go nowhere.

Politico has a story about how last week was a disaster for the tech industry in Washington DC. For all the talk about how Silicon Valley has been flexing its lobbying power, patent reform was killed, a good NSA reform bill was replaced with a bad one (leading the tech industry to pull its support) and the fight for immigration reform went the way it normally does -- nowhere beyond people yelling at each other.

But what I found even more interesting is just how powerless the "powerful" Senator seems to be on so many of these issues. Leahy has been the leading Senate voice for ECPA reform (requiring a warrant to search your electronic data) for years -- and it has pretty widespread support. And yet, he's unable to get it to move forward because the the SEC and IRS want to be able to read emails without a warrant. Really?

Similarly, for over a decade, Leahy has been the point person on patent reform in the Senate, promising to finally reform the system to stop abusive patents. The bill he finally got through in 2011 did absolutely nothing after it was watered down and watered down and watered down some more. And this year, when it looked like there might finally be a bill with at least a little (not nearly enough) progress towards stifling abusive patent practices, he got completely shut down by the trial lawyers and Harry Reid.

And, now we're basically relying on Senator Leahy to fix the NSA reform package. He introduced the companion to the USA Freedom Act in the Senate, and many in the tech and civil liberties communities are hopeful that Leahy will stand firm in actually reforming the NSA. And while he's been saying all the right things about reforming the NSA, given his track record, you have to start to wonder: can this super powerful Senator actually get this done right?

Yes, getting anything done in Congress is a pretty difficult process these days (perhaps for good reason). But we keep hearing about how Senator Leahy is so powerful and such a friend to innovation and civil liberties. But over the past few years, it's been a lot of tough talk, and nothing ever seems to actually get done. It really begins to make you wonder if he's such a "friend" to these communities after all.

Filed Under: civil liberties, ecpa, ecpa reform, patent reform, patents, patrick leahy, politics, senate judiciary committee, usa freedom

Harry Reid Bows Down To Trial Lawyers And Big Pharma In Killing Patent Reform

from the same-old-story dept

Tuesday evening, I had a discussion with a friend who was working on patent reform efforts. I said that the reform effort was dead, but my friend insisted that it was being negotiated as we spoke, and that the folks working on it wouldn't be doing so if it died. But, of course, by Wednesday morning it really was dead, and basically everyone who had been working hard on it pointed their finger at one person: Harry Reid. Within minutes of Leahy announcing that patent reform was dead, a whole bunch of people reached out to all say it was Reid's fault. And, that story got out fast. Basically everyone is saying that Harry Reid called Leahy and told him to kill the bill after trial lawyers and the pharmaceutical industry complained to Reid. Reid, fearing a loss in donations from those groups that often support Democrats in an election year, killed the bill.

Most of the reports said that Reid told Leahy he wouldn't allow the bill to come to the floor, but we heard a slightly different story: Reid didn't want it to come to the floor, and if it passed out of the Senate Judiciary with strong bipartisan support, he would be forced to bring it to the floor. That's why it was killed before it even had the chance, and Leahy had to pull it off the agenda without even allowing the Judiciary Committee to vote on it.

This is politics as usual. The same groups killed patent reform efforts in 2004, and basically every two years after that until they got a watered down bill in 2011. Unfortunately, if the same pattern holds, we may not see patent reform until 2021, by which time it too will likely be useless. And all the while actual innovation and our economy suffers.

Filed Under: harry reid, leadership, patent reform, patent trolls, patents, patrick leahy, pharmaceuticals, senate, trial lawyers