Amendments to S.1145 Prior to Floor Debate.

Per Zura’s 271 blog today, regarding recently release amendments to the Patent Reform Act of 2007: 

The Senate has released the latest amendments to the Patent Reform Act in advance of Senate Floor Debate:

Interlocutory appeals: limits interlocutory appeals of claim construction orders to those which the district court determines have a reasonable basis for disagreement, and the appeal may advance the ultimate termination of the litigation;

Best Mode amendment: best mode would be considered for obtaining a patent, but not for invalidating;

Reexamination amendment: restores third-party reexamination;

The “CAFC Telework” amendment: ensures that CAFC judges that do not reside within a 50-mile radius of Washington DC use chambers of an existing courthouse in the district where they reside.

Derivation proceedings amendment: clarifying procedures relating to derivation proceedings (which will “replace” interference practice when it is gone);

Interference appeals amendment: allow CAFC to hear BPAI interference decisions commenced prior to the effective date of the act;

Marking provision amendment: deletes marking provision and maintains current law;

In re Seagate amendment: codifies the “objective recklessness” standard;

Post-grant review amendment #1: corrects inconsistency between section 337 (1) and (2) by disqualifying post-grant reviews where issues were raised (or could have been raised) in the litigation;

Post-grant review amendment #2: defines “final decision” for estoppel purposes.

More amendments are expected to follow in the coming weeks.

A budget report is also now available for the patent reform bill from the Congressional Budget Office, which serves Congress.

CBO estimates that enacting the bill would increase direct spending by $26.9 billion and revenues by $25.5 billion over the 2009-2018 period. Much of the change would result from making permanent USPTO’s authority to collect and spend certain fees, thus shifting the collections and spending out of PTO’s appropriation account. 

See GovTrack for more information on the budget report.

See the previous AT! coverage on patent reform here.