After weeks of deliberating on the House-passed patent reform legislation, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), withdrew the bill from the Committee agenda yesterday, effectively killing the bill for the time being.
The SBTC has opposed this legislation on the grounds that many of the changes it proposes to the patent system, such as fee-shifting, pay-to-play, and covered business methods would disproportionately affect small business inventors and make the cost of defending patents too burdensome to litigate. While it may very well have been effective in preventing “patent trolls” as it was intended, the cost to small business inventors and patent-holders would have been tremendous.
A big congratulations are due to the Patent Coalition for their diligent work in opposing this legislation, and all our members who took part in that effort. In his statement on May 21, Senator Leahy stated a lack of support from stakeholders on both sides of the aisle and unintended consequences for current patent-holders as the primary reasons for taking the bill off the agenda.
To read a comprehensive rundown of what was wrong with this legislation, and Senator Leahy’s statement, follow the links below.
SBTC Letter to SBA regarding Patent Reform
Statement from Senator Leahy on Withdrawing Patent Reform Bill