Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Software Firms vs Pharma in Congressional IPR Debate

Read "Patently at Odds: Drug and Tech Sectors Battle With Reform High on Agenda" by Alan Sipress, The Washington Post, April 18, 2007.

Sponsors in both the U.S. House and Senate plan to unveil patent reform bills today to address the mounting litigation in the United States over disputed patents and the difficulty of ensuring accurate decisions by U.S. patent agency examiners. Apparently there is a clash of lobbyists coming: the drug industry is expected to seek the strongest possible protection for its blockbuster patents, while the software industry, which wants more flexibility for its fast-moving companies which sometimes inadvertently infringe on patents and which have faced huge judgments for such infringements.

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