WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary is scheduled to vote today on the Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship Act of 2015 (PATENT Act), S. 1137. The bill includes essential reforms to the patent litigation system. Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Charles Schumer (D- NY), Mike Lee (R-UT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced the Act. The following statement should be attributed to Peter Davidson, Verizon senior vice president – federal government relations:
“The PATENT Act reflects the strong, bipartisan leadership of Chairman Grassley, Ranking Member Leahy, and Senators Cornyn, Schumer, Lee, Hatch, and Klobuchar, all original co-sponsors of the legislation. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s consideration of the PATENT Act today marks an important step toward enacting the key reforms that have been part of the bill from the start.
“We continue to support the balanced reforms introduced in the bill. The bill preserves innovators’ ability to protect their inventions while curbing the abusive patent litigation tactics that can hurt inventors and drive up prices for consumers. As the bill moves to the Senate floor, we hope that Congress ensures that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office can continue to meaningfully review patents through inter partes review and post-grant review. The America Invents Act of 2011 created these twin administrative processes to provide additional patent quality checks for a strong patent system. We look forward to working with Congress to preserve the key elements of those important reforms.”