The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed its markup of...

The Senate Judiciary Committee delayed its markup of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720) again Thursday, as industry stakeholders expected (CD May 1 p13). The committee had hoped to have a compromise manager’s amendment ready for markup earlier this week, but negotiations continued Thursday. Still, Senate Judiciary has “settled the vast majority of the issues in there, and I think by next week we can actually start marking up” the manager’s amendment, said committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., during a committee executive session. Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he too believed they were continuing to make progress in negotiations and that he hoped they would be “bringing a bill to fruition shortly.” Industry stakeholders are continuing to push Senate Judiciary to mark up S-1720. More than 400 companies and groups, including many major communications and technology players signed a joint letter to Leahy and Grassley Wednesday urging their continued support for patent revamp legislation (http://bit.ly/1fC9HQ9).