Intellectual Property Law

Patent Reform Before Memorial Day?

By Peter Zura

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is pressing Senate leaders to bring his patent overhaul legislation to the Senate floor before the Memorial Day break. Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said Thursday that Leahy would like Senate leaders to bring up the patent bill after the Senate finishes action on financial regulatory legislation, expected to come up next week, and food safety legislation.

"Senator Leahy would like floor time for patent reform," Durbin said.

Durbin, however, said that a small business jobs bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., wants to pass this work period could bump the patent bill. Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, also wants to move a supplemental defense spending bill before Memorial Day. Reid will determine which bills get priority.

Full post as published by Two-Seventy-One Patent Blog on April 22, 2010 (boomark / email).