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Patent Reform: House Holds Hearing on “Innovation Act”

The hearing focused on the effect the Innovation Act would have on the problem of abusive litigation practices and on the patent system as a whole. Three central themes emerged from the hearing: 1) there is an urgent need to fully fund the PTO; 2) significant skepticism remains about expansion of the Covered Business Method (“CBM”) program; and 3) some of the more technical aspects of the Innovation Act would help rid the patent system of expensive and wasteful lawsuits. Divergence of opinion remained among the Members, however, about whether Congress should address fee shifting at this time or wait for the Supreme Court to hear the two fee shifting cases before it, although the witnesses agreed that legislation on fee shifting would be helpful, and Congress should proceed with legislation on this front.