We’re back with news!
Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee held an Executive Business Meeting, at which Senator Leahy’s Patent Transparency and Improvement Act was discussed. Senator Leahy postponed consideration of his bill to Tuesday, April 8, and released a statement about the plan for moving patent reform legislation in the Senate, as I wrote yesterday. It is possible that there will be a markup or even a vote next week, but it’s not clear yet, as “negotiations are in full swing.” For additional background information, see Matt Levy’s op-ed in the Hill from Wednesday getting into some specifics about patent reform in the Senate.
In other news, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Alice v. CLS Bank on Monday. CCIA had filed an amicus brief in support of CLS Bank. Ars Technica has a good summary of the argument. The New York Times editorial board came out on Sunday a great editorial in support of CLS Bank, titled “Abstract Ideas Don’t Deserve Patents.” Monday also brought the latest Apple-Samsung litigation, and CCIA’s Matt Schruers wrote about this episode in the smartphone patent wars and the innovation issues at stake on the Disruptive Competition Project.
There’s also a new Main Street Patent Coalition ad on patent reform, which demonstrates how patent trolls affect non-tech small businesses, and provides another voice joining the chorus that it’s time to #fixpatents.
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