House Passes Patent Reform Act of 2007 As expected, the House this afternoon passed its version of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1908). The vote was 220-175, with 37 not voting. Now the lobbying action will move to the Senate. Continue Reading →
Government recommends Supreme Court hear patent exhaustion case In a filing on August 24 (that got put on the back burner with the hubbub about the new continuation and claim limit rules), the government has recommended that the Supreme Court grant certiorari in Quanta Computer, Inc. v. LG Electronics, Inc. (No. 06-937). Detail about the Federal Circuit's decision may be found in this […] Continue Reading →
Third Circuit: Patentee’s intentional falsehood to standards body can support antitrust claim Maybe it's time for Qualcomm to rethink how it approaches standard-setting organizations. In a decision today, the Third Circuit reversed in part a district court's dismissal of rival Broadcom's antitrust claims, finding that Broadcom had adequately pleaded actions by Qualcomm that, if true, would constitute an antitrust violation. The facts of the case are similar […] Continue Reading →
Patent Office Professional Association comes out against Patent Reform Act of 2007 Support for the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145, H.R. 1908) continues to erode. Now, as reported on the Patent Prospector, POPA, the Patent Office Professional Association, has penned an open letter against the Act. The letter, entitled "The Patent Reform Act Will Hurt, Not Help, the U.S. Patent System," is interesting for several […] Continue Reading →
House Republican leadership expresses concerns about Patent Reform Act of 2007 In further evidence that the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145, H.R. 1908) may be in for a tough road, the House Republican leadership (Republican Leader Boehner and Republican Whip Blunt) has sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi expressing concerns about the Act. Among the provisions that cause the concern are enhanced rulemaking authority […] Continue Reading →
IEEE voices opposition to the Patent Reform Act of 2007 As reported at the Patent Prospector, the U.S. organizational unit of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE-USA) has sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi opposing the Patent Reform Act of 2007. In a nutshell, the IEEE-USA's view is: We believe that much of the legislation is […] Continue Reading →
Patent Reform Act of 2007 hitting a snag? In today's Wall Street Journal, there is an article noting that the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145, H.R. 1908) may be coming up against some resistance when Congress returns from its August recess. The article notes that the AFL-CIO has warned that if the Act is passed in its current form, "innovation—and union-backed […] Continue Reading →
First lawsuit to stop implementation of continuation and claim limit rules filed As reported on Patently-O (and predicted here), yesterday a lawsuit was filed against the USPTO and its director, Jon Dudas, to prevent implementation of the new rules limiting continuations and the number of claims in patent applications (expect a more detailed post about the new rules later today). The lawsuit alleges that the regulations are […] Continue Reading →
New continuation and claim limit rules: the good, the bad, and the ugly After having some time to parse out the details of the new rules promulgated by the USPTO on Tuesday, a few things jump out. For the most part, they could have been worse, but from the perspective of patent applicants, the new rules will likely result in more expensive applications, narrower coverage, and potentially the […] Continue Reading →
Continuation and claims rules to publish tomorrow, August 21st, will take effect November 1st Tthe USPTO announced in a press release today that it will publish in tomorrow's Federal Register the final rules on continuation applications and the number of claims. The rules will take effect November 1, 2007. The USPTO describes the rules in its press release: The new rules have been modified, relative to the rules that […] Continue Reading →