Dear Mr. *******

Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 1145, the Patent Reform Act.

In June 2007 the Senate Judiciary Committee, on which I sit, held hearings on this legislation. In July 2007 the Committee approved this legislation with amendments by a vote of 13 to 5. Although I share some of your concerns about this legislation, I thought it important to keep patent reform legislation moving forward, and I voted in favor of the legislation. The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill, H.R. 1908, by a vote of 220 to 175 in September 2007. This legislation may be considered on the Senate floor in 2008. I am hopeful that your concerns will be addressed as this bill is considered on the floor of the Senate.

Patent reform has been discussed for many years in Congress, and interest in this issue has expanded as the importance of intellectual property to innovation has increased. Patent ownership is perceived as an incentive to the technological advancement that leads to economic growth. However, growing interest in patents has been accompanied by persistent concerns about the fairness and effectiveness of the current system. Several recent studies, including those by the National Academy of Sciences and the Federal Trade Commission, have recommended patent reform to address perceived deficiencies in the operation of the patent regime.

The legislation would make numerous changes to the patent system, including: a shift to a first-inventor-to-file priority system; substantive and procedural modifications to the patent law doctrine of willful infringement; adoption of post-grant review proceedings, prior user rights, and pre-issuance publication of all pending applications ; the quality of issued patents ; the expense and c omplexity of patent litigation; proper calculation of damages for infringement; harmonization of U.S. patent law with the laws o f our leading trading partners; sanctions for abuses committed by patent speculators . Throughout the process the Senate Judiciary Committee also worked to make numerous changes to the bill to address the special needs of individual inventors, universities, biotechnology companies and small firms with respect to the patent system.

I will continue to work with affected parties and Maryland groups to make additional needed changes to the legislation. Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue, and please feel free to contact me again in the future.