The House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Propery is set to markup H.R. 5418, a bill introduced by Representatives Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) to “establish a pilot program in certain United Satates district courts to encourage enhancement of expertise in patent cases among district judges.” The Issa bill would establish an opt-in program under which volunteering district court judges would receive “education and professional development” related to patent matters. Judges who don’t volunteer would be able to decline patent cases that are randomly assigned to them and, effectively, steer these cases to the volunteering patent experts.

You can view and/or download a .pdf of the Issa bill here.

The Issa bill has some momentum going into markup. It includes a relatively modest budget ($5M per year for 10 years) and doesn’t attempt to sell itself as a guarenteed solution to any problem. The bill offers a fresh and simple approach to a real world problem – district court judges who lack patent expertise and those who bemoan the random assignment system when it places a nasty patent case on their docket. It could fail miserably, of course, if no one opts into the program. But, it’s a pilot program, and that’s all the bill attempts to create. “Let’s give it a try” is the approach…and many people I’ve talked to are saying “why not?”.

A pilot judicial patent expertise program… “let’s give it a try” is the approach, and many people are saying “why not?One side benefit of establishing a judicial patent expertise program in the district courts, like the one proposed in the Issa bill, would be that there would finally be a “minor league” for judges to gain real experience that could be applied in the big leagues – the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Patent reform is essentially dead in this Congress. But, as I’ve said before, a relatively small bill that has a bit of momentum could see some action, and perhaps passage, as the 109th prepares to wrap things up. Representative Issa’s pilot program could fit this bill.

It’s become quite clear over the last several weeks that the Patent and Trademark Office intends to make final the proposed rules relating to initial claim limits and limitations on continuation practice. In Boston a few weeks back, John Whealan, Solicitor and USPTO General Counsel for Intellectual Property, told the IP section of the American Bar Association that the final rules would be made effective in either August or January. Hal Wegner now reports that Jay Lucas, Deputy Commisioner for Patent Examination Policy, announced today at a George Mason program that the final rules package woud be published sometime between Thansgiving and Christmas.

Happy Holidays.

The final content and scope of the rules is still unknown. At this stage, though, it appears that two things are certain – the implementation of the rules, and a lawsuit against the Director questioning the authority to place limits on continuation practice.

We intellectual property attorneys are an extremely lucky group. Why? Because we get to work with entrepreneurs, the true heroes of a capitalist society. It’s hard for me to summarize my feelings about these visionaries. I’ve tried, but can’t seem to write a brief description that comes close to representing the respect I have for them.

Well….now I don’t have to. Orange Business is currently running a commercial on CNBC that puts it all into a 30-second spot. It sends tingles up my spine everytime I watch it.

You can view the commercial in the window below or at this YouTube link.

Here’s to the entrepreneur in all of us.

Yesterday, the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations subcommittee approved the Commerce-Justice-State appropriations bill, which includes the funding authority for the Patent and Trademark Office for FY 2007. The subcommittee approved a $1.77B appropriation for the Office – the same level approved by the House Appropriations Committee.

No substantive amendments were offered during the subcommittee markup. The full Appropriations committee is scheduled to consider the CJS bill on Thursday, and several amendments are expected.

If I asked you to take a guess at Benjamin Franklin’s views on patents, I suspect you’d think that he would support a strong patent system. That was my guess. He’s known to have been an inventive guy…seems logical that he would support a patent system that rewards and encourages inventive efforts.

If you made that guess, you’d be wrong…just like I was wrong.

If he were around today, Ben Franklin might be an open source programmerConsider this passage from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin:

“In order of time, I should have mentioned before, that having, in 1742, invented an open stove for the better warming of rooms, and at the same time saving fuel, as the fresh air admitted was warmed in entering, I made a present of the model to Mr. Robert Grace, one of my early friends, who, having an iron-furnace, found the casting of the plates for these stoves a profitable thing, as they were growing in demand. To promote that demand, I wrote and published a pamphlet, entitled “An Account of the new-invented Pennsylvania Fireplaces; wherein their Construction and Manner of Operation is particularly explained; their Advantages above every other Method of warming Rooms demonstrated; and all Objections that have been raised against the Use of them answered and obviated,” etc. This pamphlet had a good effect. Gov’r. Thomas was so pleas’d with the construction of this stove, as described in it, that he offered to give me a patent for the sole vending of them for a term of years; but I declin’d it from a principle which has ever weighed with me on such occasions, viz., That, as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.” (emphasis added)

It sounds like Ben tinkered…and invented…simply to help others, and probably for fun and to satisfy curiosities. He didn’t need any motivation to invent or to disclose his inventions, which renders a patent system useless for him.

I bet if Ben were around today, he’d be an open source programmer, inventing all sorts of new software and sharing them with everyone.

You can view and read the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin online at the library of The Worldwide School.