Obama’s Innovation Focus, Leahy’s Patent Reform, House’s Patent and Trademark Office Review—All in One Day

For patent community stakeholders who like government attention to their concerns, Jan. 25 was a banner day.

First, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced a new patent reform bill, S. 23, in the 112th Congress, one of three patent-related bills initiated in the Senate’s morning session.

Then in the afternoon, a hearing before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet was held on “How an Improved U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Can Create Jobs.” The hearing produced two noteworthy developments—indications that newly-elected lawmakers may take their spending knife to the PTO, and the first announcement of the PTO’s $4,000 planned price for accelerated “Track I” processing of a patent application…

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