Saturday, May 19, 2012

Banks and CUs on Patent Reform

Attorney Eliot Williams -- testifying for seven financial services trade groups -- told the House Judiciary Committee on May 16 that several changes would improve the Patent and Trademark Office's proposed regulations to create a transitional program for reviewing business-method patents under the America Invents Act.

The “program offers a less-costly … more efficient alternative to litigation, so that businesses acting in good faith do not have to spend the millions of dollars it costs to litigate a business-method patent of questionable validity,” said Williams, a partner with Baker Botts LLP in Washington, D.C.

He suggested, among other things, that the Patent and Trademark Office amend the definition of “technological invention” to shift the burden of persuasion to the patent holder; reduce the application fee for petitions that small entities file; and interpret "financial products or services" broadly.

Read the testimony.
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