Is This the Year? Microsoft and Others Continue Their Push for Patent Reform.
An article dated March 13, 2007 at Bloomberg.com (also a version of the article was published in The Examiner, page 22, on March 14, 2007), by Susan Decker entitled Microsoft verdict, Congress may spur patent law changes reports what some of us in the patent world have been forecasting: This very well may be the year for patent reform.
In particular, Microsoft recently was on the losing end of what will be a record $1.52 billion verdict, if upheld on appeal, in favor of Alcatel-Lucent, a large networking equipment company. A verdict that should give added incentive to Microsoft’s continuing push for patent reform. Additionally, patent reform enjoys bipartisan support (although many believe that technology companies, as opposed to pharmaceutical companies, carry more favor with the Democratic controlled Congress and that this year’s expected bill, like the bills introduced the last two years, will be more favorable to the interests of these companies), recent Supreme Court interest in patent cases, the overall value of patents in our knowledge-based economy and that this is not an election year all make for a favorable political climate for enacting comprehensive patent legislation. For example, the beginning of the Decker article states:
Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. have urged lawmakers to overhaul the U.S. patent system for more than five years. They may get their wish in 2007.
A record $1.52 billion verdict against Microsoft last month, the Democrats' takeover of Congress and U.S. Supreme Court rulings are building momentum for the biggest changes in U.S. patent law since 1952. Proposals include legislation to make it easier for targets of infringement suits to challenge patents [post-grant opposition] and limit damages if they lose.
``Things have happened that make this the season for patent reform,'' said Emery Simon, counsel for the Business Software Alliance, a Washington lobbying group whose members include Microsoft, Intel and Apple Inc.
Pressure for change comes amid a surge in patent litigation that has accompanied the U.S.'s move to a knowledge-based economy from one reliant on manufacturing. Patent suits in the U.S. more than doubled to 2,706 new filings in 2005 from 1995, the U.S. Administrative Office of the Courts in Washington says.
U.S. intellectual property, dominated by patents, is valued at as much as $5.5 trillion, according to a 2005 study by USA for Innovation, a Washington group that advocates free trade. That's more than 40 percent of U.S. gross domestic product.
Representative Howard Berman, a California Democrat who heads the House subcommittee on patent issues, said last month he was working with Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont and may offer a patent bill ``within weeks.''
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The entire article can be found at http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aiPL_3y8crT8&refer=home. We, the attorneys at Maier & Maier, expect that post-grant opposition will continue to be a major component of any patent reform bill introduced in Congress this year. We look forward to receiving your comments on the issues discussed above.
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