More Patent Reform Legislative Hearings

On Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 10:00 AM in the Rayburn House Office Building, the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property will conduct a Legislative Hearing on "The Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute to H.R. 2795, the 'Patent Act of 2005'" The witness list includes

• Emery Simon Counsel, The Small Business Software Alliance (BSA)
• Philip S. Johnson Chief Patent Counsel, Johnson & Johnson on behalf of the
  Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
• Robert B. Chess Chairman, Nektar Therapeutics on behalf of the Biotechnology Industry Organziation (BIO) and
• John R. Thomas Professor, Georgetown University Law Center

J. Matthew Buchanan at "Promote the Progress" writes

The draft amendment, which is a substitute bill, is clearly one supported by both PhRMA and BIO. It’s highly likely that BSA strongly opposes the draft amendment – it completely eliminates two of the provisions backed by the group (the injunctive relief provision and the “second window” for post-grant review proceedings in the Patent and Trademark Office).

The hearing should be quite interesting. If only you could be a fly on the wall. Oh, wait, you can — watch the webcast here.

And don't forget to also check out Buchanan's latest thoughts on "patent trolls":

Here’s the bottom line – the term is impossible to define without circumscribing
the property right provided by patents. Any attempt to do so creates a policy
nightmare. Continuing to do so stands to derail the real patent reform movement
that should be focused on patent quality.

If a patent is valid and enforceable, it should not matter who owns it. Period.

I think Dean Kamen stated it best after being introduced at the recent Conference on Patent Reform in DC, “Hello. I’m Dean Kamen. I’m a troll.”