PrintEmail This Page
Legislation Will Restore Balance to Patent Law, Drive Innovation, and Benefit Consumers
The Business Software Alliance (BSA) applauds today’s vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to approve bipartisan patent reform legislation. The vote on final passage was 220-175.
The Patent Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1908) is designed to ensure American leadership in global innovation by modernizing U.S. patent law for the challenges of the 21st century, including rapid technological innovation and growing global economic competition. The legislation includes provisions to improve patent quality; ensure remedies for patent infringement are equitable and fair; give the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office greater resources to process a growing number of more complex patent applications; and harmonize the American system with those of other major patent-granting nations.
BSA President and CEO Robert Holleyman said, “The House has taken an historic step toward ensuring American leadership in the 21st century. This much-needed legislation would drive innovation that will benefit consumers for generations to come.”
“We are especially grateful for the unprecedented bipartisan support for this important technology policy,” said Holleyman. “Now we call on the Senate and all parties to work together in the same spirit of compromise to enact a fair and balanced patent reform bill.”
H.R. 1908 is backed by a bipartisan array of Congressional leaders including Representatives Howard Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property, Lamar Smith (R-TX), the ranking Republican on the full committee, John Conyers (D-M), chairman of the full Committee, Howard Coble (R-NC), the subcommittee’s ranking Republican, Rick Boucher (D-VA), Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Chris Cannon (R-UT), and Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX).
A companion measure is making progress in the Senate, backed by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Orrin Hatch (R-UT), a senior member of that panel, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and John Cornyn (R-TX).
The BSA has been a longtime, active advocate of patent reform, having brought CEOs and other representatives of BSA member companies to Washington for several rounds of meetings with Members of Congress and other senior policymakers. The association submitted legal briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court in a variety of landmark patent cases including eBay vs. Merc Exchange, Microsoft vs. ATT, and KSR v. Teleflex.
The Business Software Alliance (www.bsa.org) is the foremost organization dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world. BSA is the voice of the world's commercial software industry and its hardware partners before governments and in the international marketplace. Its members represent one of the fastest growing industries in the world. BSA programs foster technology innovation through education and policy initiatives that promote copyright protection, cyber security, trade and e-commerce. BSA members include Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Avid, Bentley Systems, Borland, CA, Cadence Design Systems, Cisco Systems, CNC Software/Mastercam, Dell, EMC, Entrust, HP, IBM, Intel, McAfee, Microsoft, Monotype Imaging, PTC, SAP, SolidWorks, Sybase, Symantec, Synopsys, The MathWorks, and UGS.
Karen Dorbin Media@bsa.org 202-715-1538
United States
