White House Seeks Changes To Patent Reform Proposal

As Congress prepares to vote on patent reform, the White House issued a statement saying it supports some provisions but wants to negotiate some changes.

President George W. Bush issued a statement Thursday supporting patent reform, but he opposed caps on court damages for patent infringement contained in the House bill up for a vote today.

"Making this change to a reasonably well-functioning patent legal system is unwarranted and risks reducing the rewards from innovation -- a result that would undercut the other useful reforms in this bill," the White House said in a statement. "The Administration therefore opposes H.R. 1908 unless it is appropriately revised to address this concern." The White House also said that recent court rulings make the provision in the bill regarding "willful infringement" unnecessary.

The statement signaled Bush's support for much of the bill and his intent to negotiate some changes, including a grace period for the transition to a first-inventor-to-file system.

"The Administration is concerned with the bill's provision to limit the use of the best mode requirement as a possible basis for challenging the validity of a patent," the statement said. "While a failure to disclose the best mode would remain as a ground for inequitable conduct defenses, weakening this particular defense by eliminating it from grounds of invalidity discourages applicants from fully disclosing important information to the [U.S. Patent and Trademark Office]."

Meanwhile, consumer and advocacy groups have come out in support of the legislation, which patent examiners themselves oppose.

"Patent examiners are under immense time constraints and do not always discover prior art that might render a patent invalid," consumer groups said, adding that third-party provision would fill current gaps in resources.

"Allowing third parties to aid in the examination process increases the chances that relevant prior art will be discovered and decreases the possibility that invalid patents will issue," the groups said.

The letter, signed by of substantial harm.

Finally, the groups said they support limiting damages and setting "willful infringement" standards.