New patent reform bill
Executive Summary
Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., plans to introduce a patent damages bill that does not include the apportionment provisions opposed by drug lobbyists and contained in legislation sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. (S. 1145). The House and Senate Judiciary Committees each approved versions of Leahy's bill in July 2007, but the bill has since stalled (1"The Pink Sheet," July 23, 2007, p. 20). Leahy's bill would require courts to select one of several methods of calculating royalties. Kyl's legislation, which the senator plans to introduce in September, would codify the so-called "Georgia-Pacific factors": 15 factors for calculating royalty payments for patents, established in a 1970 federal court case...