The Hill News

A radical overhaul of the U.S. Patent system is rapidly approaching. S23 passed 95-5 in the Senate in January and H.R. 1249 seems to be on track to be called in the House in the next few days. And now suddenly there is pushback. Congressmen are confused. Staffers are confused. The public is largely unaware and the pressure is on from someone...somewhere to get this sweeping overhaul passed quickly.

How does one navigate a position on this?  Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) sing the bill’s praises. So do President Obama and Gary Locke. International corporations like Intel and Google are eager for its passage. Smaller companies and entrepreneurs fiercely oppose. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), Dana Rohrbacher (R-Calif.) and Phyllis Schlafly claim it is blatantly unconstitutional. Patent attorneys paid by multinational corporations swear it is not. Given the confu! sion, which side does one take when one must take one?

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