Happy Friday! Lots of news this week.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued two unanimous opinions overturning the Federal CircuitSee CAFC, Highmark and Octane Fitness, recognizing the importance of fee-shifting in curbing abusive litigation. This week we also reported on district court decisions against Intellectual VenturesThe largest patent aggregator, currently holding around 40,000 patents. Closely associated with co-founder Nathan Myhrvold. IV is often viewed as a patent assertion entity, although much of its activities are conducted through spinoffs, and the company is at least nominally in the business of producing inventions in-house. See our posts on Intellectual Ventures., MPHJ, and Rockstar. This action in the courts truly demonstrates the need for patent reform in the Senate.
The Senate’s markup scheduled for yesterday was delayed again, and the Manager’s amendment has not yet been released, but progress is still happening behind the scenes. Senator Leahy said that he’s been working with other Judiciary members and addressing stakeholder comments, and that he is “encouraged by the progress that has been made over the recess.” Some of the comments may have been calls for “balance” from universities and the Innovation Alliance, although much of that has been addressed. And there are a lot of voices calling for reform. On Wednesday, nearly 400 companies and organizations sent a letter supporting the Senate’s actions on patent reform.
Matt Levy also released a few “Well, That Explains It….” comic strips that show how easily the arguments of anti-reform advocates are undermined: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
Did we miss something? Questions or suggestions? Feel free to leave a comment below, mention us on Twitter (@PatentProgress), or email us: patentprogress[AT]ccianet[DOT]org
