Kaptur to Justice – Microsoft has ‘aggressive posture’ on patent reform

J. Matt Buchanan — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 05:01:47 +0000

Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), an ardent opponent of comprehensive patent reform efforts, recently jumped on an opportunity to notify the administration about Microsoft’s “agressive posture” on the issue.

Kaptur, the most senior Democratic woman on the influential House Appropriations Committee, recently issued a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey urging the application of a ’strict scrutiny’ standard of review to Microsoft’s recently announced hostile bid for Yahoo! Inc.

Interestingly, the letter’s focus (and purpose?) seems to be more on patent reform than on the takeover bid.

To wit:

She characterized the bid as appearing “against the backdrop of [Microsoft's] current aggressive posture in Congress seeking to reform and diminish the effectiveness of our nation’s intellectual property protections.”

She specifically pointed to the company’s lobbying for the passage of two controversial reform efforts, apportionment of damages and the “second window” in a post grant review system:

“Microsoft is seeking to fundamentally transform the treatment for those entities that infringe on the intellectual property of other innovators by minimizing the damages the victim could receive and to ensure that the potential for harassment would extended (sic) dramatically by allowing for virtually endless attacks on patent validity.”

Download a .pdf of Representative Kaptur’s letter here.

Kaptur has made several spirited floor speeches against patent reform efforts over the years, including one that included a statement of disgust with the politics played by members of her own party in setting the ‘debate’ on H.R. 1907, The Patent Reform Act of 2007.

Representative Kaptur’s district includes my beloved Toledo, OH, but just misses my current hometown of Perrysburg, OH.

Let the games begin

Let the games begin

J. Matt Buchanan — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 18:23:20 +0000

I note the following from today’s floor debate of H.R. 1908, The Patent Reform Act of 2007:

1. Patent trolls and “bad patents” continue to be the rallying cry of the reformers. Amazing, then, that no mention was made of eBay v. MercExchange, KSR v. Teleflex, or the PTO rules limiting the ability to file continuation applications. Not one mention.

2. Patent reform has been fully politicized. The reformers have deftly called on the majority’s ability to control the rules of debate. A dissenting Democratic voice, Marcy Kaptur (from my hometown of Toledo, OH) stated it best (paraphrasing):

“Our time should not be squashed on this important issue” (speaking in an elevated voice over the speaker telling her that her time has expired)

Let the games begin.

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Kaptur to Justice – Microsoft has ‘aggressive posture’ on patent reform

Let the games begin