Patent Bill Still Unsupportable

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Washington, D.C. – The Coalition for 21st Century Patent Reform released the following statement as the House Rules Committee prepared to consider H.R. 1908, the Patent Reform Act of 2007.

“The Coalition for 21 Century Patent Reform, comprising more than 40 companies and representing a wide variety of industries and technologies, wants patent reform. However, the Coalition could not support the legislation as reported from the Judiciary Committee.

Over the past several months, we have worked with Members and staff to try to develop consensus legislation. In that regard, we have provided specific legislative language on several issues that we believe need to be modified in order to produce a patent bill that we can support, including in the important area of damages.

Unfortunately, we anticipate that the bill which will be considered by the House on Friday will not sufficiently address the issues of concern and therefore the bill is still not supportable. We would welcome the opportunity to be able to continue working with members of the House to construct a bill which will promote investment and research while also strengthening the patent system. We hope the House would not consider the legislation before there is a chance to create a more fair and balanced bill.”