This is the Legislative Newsletter provided by the ABA Section of Intellectual Property Law, as legislative news develops. This Newsletter is available to any member of the ABA-IPL Section. See the end of this message for information on how to unsubscribe.
Yesterday Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced S. 866, a bill to expand the ability of businesses to initiate USPTO post-grant review of a patent in question when they are sued for infringement or charged with infringement of certain business method patents. The current law, enacted in the America Invents Act, limits coverage of the post-grant review to patents relating to financial products or services. The Schumer bill would remove this limitation and authorize review of any patent that claims a method or apparatus for performing data processing or other operations in any "enterprise, product or service." The bill also would remove the "sunset" provision in the AIA that automatically repeals the program after 8 years.
Copies of the Schumer bill and press release.
Yesterday House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte announced that the Judiciary Committee will conduct a comprehensive review of U.S. copyright law over the coming months with a view toward updating those laws to accommodate technological advances that have occurred in recent years. In a statement at a World IP Day event subsequent to the press release making the announcement, Goodlatte indicated that the Committee will hold hearings on "many aspects of copyright law" in the coming months.
Copies of the Goodlatte press release and the March 20 Pallante testimony.
The U.S. Supreme Court today issued its decision in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley, a case presenting the conflict between two important facets of U.S. copyright law, the right of a copyright owner to prevent unauthorized importation of copies of copyrighted works (the "importation right"), and the right of the owner of the copy of a work " lawfully made under this title" (Title 17, U.S. Code) to sell or dispose of that copy without the authority of the owner of the copyright (the "first sale doctrine").
A copy of the Court's disposition of the case is attached.
On March 11, by a vote of 91-0, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Richard Gary Taranto to be Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
Pending in the Senate are two other nominations to the Federal Circuit. Should the nominations of Raymond Chin and Todd Hughes be confirmed, the Court will reach its authorized complement of twelve judges.
This week two bills were introduced in the Senate that would permit unlocking of mobile devices such cell phones, an issue that arises when a customer changes service providers upon the expiration of a contract period. Such unlocking is currently held to be a violation of 17 USC 1201, the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
A copy of S. 467 is attached. S. 481 is yet to be made available on the GPO web site.
Today the House of Representatives passed S. 3486, the "Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act." The Senate approved S. 3486 on September 22, and House passage of the bill without amendment sends it to the president for signing into law.
On the introduction of the bill on August 2, Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy described the purposes of S. 3486 as follows:
The text of H.R. 845 is attached.
The House and Senate have adjourned until after the November 6 elections, when they will return for a "lame duck" session. Before adjourning on September 22, the Senate approved two IP related bills.
One is H.R. 6215, a bill already passed by House to correct a drafting error in an amendment to the 1996 Federal Trademark Dilution Act (FTDA) made by the Trademark Dilution Revision Act (TDRA) of 2006.
Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee favorably reported to the Senate S. 3523, the "Innovative Design Protection Act of 2012."
S. 3523 would amend the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act to provide a three-year copyright-like term of protection for fashion designs of articles of apparel and related items.
A copy of S. 3523 as approved by the Judiciary Committee is attached.
Yesterday the Senate Judiciary Committee favorably reported S. 3486, the "Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act" to the Senate. S. 3486 would provide necessary legislation to implement the Hague Agreement Concerning International Registration of Industrial Designs and the Patent Law Treaty, both of which were ratified by the Senate in 2007.
S. 3486 was approved in the form of an Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute, a copy of which is attached.
At 1135 AM on September 16, President Obama signed into law H.R. 1249, the "Leahy-Smith America Invents Act."
The signing ceremony was held at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology ("TJ"), an elite science and technology school in Alexandria that attracts the most outstanding math and science students from the Northern Virginia area.
