Federal Judiciary

Deal Reportedly Struck on Many Patent Reform Act Provisions, Including Venue

By Michael C. Smith

I just learned that there has apparently been a compromise struck on major parts of the patent reform act currently pending in Congress, which will result in a new manager's bill on the Senate side in the next few days. 
Of interest to readers of this blog is an apparent agreement on the patent venue provisions, which I understand are proposed to take the form of a statute (a new provision in 28 USC 1400) essentially codifying the "clearly more convenient" standard enunciated in In re VW and In re TS Tech in applying 1404 caselaw, so that district courts will be directed to transfer patent cases if, for the convenience of the parties and witnesses and in the interests of justice, another forum is shown to be clearly more convenient.
Of course this is not final and many stages remain in the process, but it is certainly one of the most significant steps I have seen in the life of the patent legislation since it was first introduced in 2005.

Full post as published by Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice on March 31, 2009 (boomark / email).