Draft patent reform bill circulated in support-shopping — don’t sweat the details just yet

A draft patent reform bill is currently being circulated.  Last week, the bill was passed amongst interested people on a “Washington confidential” basis, but it appears to be freely available now.  I have decided not to make the draft bill available for download until I can confirm that is should be widely disseminated, but will provide a copy by e-mail.  A .pdf is available for download on the Patently-O blog.

Before analyzing the details of the bill, let’s look at it from a 50,000 feet point-of-view.  The draft bill is currently being shopped for support which, of course, is everything in the legislative process.  As all good Hill-watchers will tell you, support for legislation has three primary stages:  support for the concept, support for a draft bill, and support for an active bill.  As politics go, support that existed at any prior stage can always disappear at a later stage.  And the opposite can happen as well.  If you’re lucky enough to have your issue become a darling, support will begin oozing from the woodwork of the Capitol (don’t look for a patent law issue to become a darling, though).

The draft patent reform bill tells us that enough support was garnered for the concept of patent reform to justify the preparation of a draft bill (no small undertaking, especially in the world of patent law).  And now, the second stage is being entered.  Backers of the bill (read drafters of the bill) are shopping it to those who voiced support for the concept and looking for confirmation that the support still exists.

These key questions are currently being resolved:  Will everyone who expressed support for the concept of patent reform back this bill?  If the support base is eroding, what changes need to be made to retain the base?  Will key supporters tinker with the bill, adding and/or deleting provisions?  Who will sponsor the bill?  How will the bill be used politically?  Is there support in the Senate?

There’s plenty of time for the details — don’t look for a reform bill to be passed until at least next year…and possibly not even until the 110th Congress is seated in 2007.  And remember, we’ve got a budget season to go through, too.  Support for this or any other reform bill is likely to be intertwined with Patent and Trademark Office funding and the fee diversion issue.