Washington Examiner via LegalNewsline: Patent law experts: New GOP-controlled Congress could pump up reform legislation, by Jessica Karmasek
This post originally appeared in the Washington Examiner via Legal Newsline on January 8, 2015.
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – Patent law experts agree that the next go at federal patent reform legislation most likely will end up resembling a bill introduced and approved in 2013 – or possibly be more aggressive – when the “new” Republican-controlled Congress convenes this month.
Adam Mossoff, a law professor at George Mason University and senior scholar at the university’s Center for Protection of Intellectual Property, said he expects Congress to act “very” quickly.
“The Republican leadership has expressed that patent reform is one of its top priorities in 2015,” he said.
Republicans now hold the majority in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate following the November midterm election.
It is the first time the GOP has regained the majority of the Senate since losing it in January 2007.
Now, the question is, what will the newest version of a patent reform bill look like? How much will the new makeup of Congress help, or hurt, in shaping a bill?
“It’s a very interesting question, as to what form the next round of patent legislation will take,” Mossoff admitted.
“There are certain issues in patent revision legislation that were part of (House of Representatives Bill) 3309 that was voted by the House that will certainly remain part of the package of proposed revisions to the patent system in 2015.”