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Patent Reform Act of 2007: Responding to Legitimate Needs or Special Interests?

In a counter to the Coalition for Patent Fairness, Pat Choate, Ph.D. has published an analysis of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 [1] for the Manufacturing Policy Project.  Entitled, The Patent Reform Act of 2007: Responding to Legitimate Needs or Special Interests?  The “Patent Fairness” Issue, Choate responds to the assertions put forth in favor of reform.

Dr. Choate, an economist and author specializing in patent issues and the money politics that now infect our nation’s capitol, uses factual research to examine the arguments in favor of patent “reform” that are being advanced by the Coalition for Patent Fairness, the organization representing Big Tech corporations on the issue.

These bills have three core features:

1. They would change the calculations of damages imposed on patent infringers in a way that will drastically limit the amounts they must pay patent owners;

2. They would create a new post-grant, quasi-judicial review process that will provide infringers new opportunities to challenge patents that have already issued;

3. They would change the rules on venue – where a patent holder can sue an infringer – in a way that will favor infringers over patent owners.

Dr. Choate concludes that rather than trying to alter their business practices to conform to existing U.S. patent laws, these corporations are trying to alter those laws to fit their business model.

See the entire paper here:  Patent Reform Act Analysis by Choate [2]