The Senate Judiciary Committee gave us a watershed moment in the patent reform movement when, last week, it approved an amended version of the Patent Reform Act of 2009. The Committee’s action is a significant step toward enactment of comprehensive patent reform, particularly because it represents a compromise amongst major stakeholders on the controversial damages provision that has, for some time, played spoiler for the legislation. Despite this significant development, the Patent Reform Act of 2009 is going nowhere in the foreseeable future.

View and/or download a .pdf of the Patent Reform Act of 2009 as reported out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Wondering about the value of method claims in a patent application directed at an apparatus/composition “invention?” A recent decision of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reminds us that method claims might preserve your ability to file an infringement claim in certain situations where asserting apparatus claims is blocked by less than perfect marking practices.

I’m happy to announce that patent opinions published on Promote the Progress now include any and all figures from the original slip opinion of the court.

The oral argument from Contech Stormwater Solutions v. Baysaver Technologies included an interesting discussion regarding the proper construction of the term “siphon.” The debate focused on whether the term requires an intermediate elevation – a high point between the fluid source and the drain output. Counsel for patentee argued that the ordinary meaning of the term can include this “up and over” structural arrangement, but does not require it. The classic beer bong illustrates the issue perfectly. Especially when compared to its distant cousin – the classic two-beer-hat.

Fueled by an agreement between the competing camps, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted last week to pass the Patent Reform Act of 2009 to the full Senate for debate. The Committee adopted a manager’s amendment that embodies the changes required by the agreement. Download a .pdf redline version of the bill, as amended and passed by the Committee, after the jump.

I recently launched two new RSS feeds for Promote the Progress that allow patent practitioners to efficiently review the latest caselaw developments. Each of the feeds provides an easy-to-digest overview of every new patent opinion from the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (and the Supreme Court) alongside a series of links to pages on the Promote the Progress site that contain additional information about the opinion.

Each feed is intended to be used in the same way – if after reading the overview of an opinion you want to delve into it a bit deeper, just click a link to read the full opinion or the Promote the Progress review. You can also click a link to download a .pdf of the opinion and another to listen to the oral argument.

So what’s the difference between the two feeds?

The opinion overview in the first feed provides a bibliographic overview of the opinion, including an annotated listing of keywords. The second feed includes the introductory paragraph from the Promote the Progress review of the opinion.

You can subscribe to both feeds by email or in an RSS feed reader/aggregator using the following URL’s:

1.Bibliographic summaries

feed address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/promotetheprogress-patentopinions
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2. Summaries of Promote the Progress case reviews

feed address: http://feeds.feedburner.com/promotetheprogress-patentreviews
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Want to learn more? Check out the RSS feeds page.

In a committee meeting led forcefully by Chairman Leahy, the Senate Judiciary Committee today voted to pass the Patent Reform Act of 2009 to the whole Senate. The Committee adopted the proposed manager’s amendment that modifies the damages and interlocutory appeals provisions, and voted against several other amendments. While the Committee successfully moved the bill to the full Senate, today’s hearing makes it clear that many more proposed amendments loom. Senate debate will likely be very intense.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to meet again today to continue its consideration of S.515, The Patent Reform Act of 2009. Several amendments to the Act have been proposed and will be considered, including changes to the progress-blocking damages provision, the interlocutory appeals provision, and various other changes.