House Subcommittee markup scheduled on Representative Issa’s pilot program bill

The House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Propery is set to markup H.R. 5418, a bill introduced by Representatives Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) to “establish a pilot program in certain United Satates district courts to encourage enhancement of expertise in patent cases among district judges.” The Issa bill would establish an opt-in program under which volunteering district court judges would receive “education and professional development” related to patent matters. Judges who don’t volunteer would be able to decline patent cases that are randomly assigned to them and, effectively, steer these cases to the volunteering patent experts.

You can view and/or download a .pdf of the Issa bill here.

The Issa bill has some momentum going into markup. It includes a relatively modest budget ($5M per year for 10 years) and doesn’t attempt to sell itself as a guarenteed solution to any problem. The bill offers a fresh and simple approach to a real world problem - district court judges who lack patent expertise and those who bemoan the random assignment system when it places a nasty patent case on their docket. It could fail miserably, of course, if no one opts into the program. But, it’s a pilot program, and that’s all the bill attempts to create. “Let’s give it a try” is the approach…and many people I’ve talked to are saying “why not?”.

A pilot judicial patent expertise program… “let’s give it a try” is the approach, and many people are saying “why not?One side benefit of establishing a judicial patent expertise program in the district courts, like the one proposed in the Issa bill, would be that there would finally be a “minor league” for judges to gain real experience that could be applied in the big leagues - the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Patent reform is essentially dead in this Congress. But, as I’ve said before, a relatively small bill that has a bit of momentum could see some action, and perhaps passage, as the 109th prepares to wrap things up. Representative Issa’s pilot program could fit this bill.