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Patent Reform Slows Down in Congress

July 15, 2015?Dennis Crouch


by Dennis Crouch

Acting in bi-partisan fashion, leadership in the House of Representatives has reportedly removed Rep. Goodlatte’s Innovation Act (H.R. 9) from House Floor consideration for this summer – indicating that the bill is not yet ready for a consensus vote. (Summer session typically runs through the end of July with a break for the month of August).

Some amount of opposition had been building within Congress, including a joint press conference yesterday that included U.S. Representatives John Conyers (D-Mich.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Bill Foster (D-Ill.), and Scott Peters (D-Calif.) as well as Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and David Vitter. In their press release, the group wrote that “H.R. 9 is strongly opposed by inventors, small businesses, venture capitalists, startup communities, and manufacturing, technology, and life sciences companies.”

A compromise bill has some chance this fall and we can expect more aggressive PR campaigns showing the woes of patent trolls as well as the benefits of patent-driven innovation.