For immediate release.
The House this afternoon passed HR 1908, the Patent Reform Act by a 220-175 vote. The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“The House acted this afternoon to strengthen the U.S. economy and to spur innovation by passing important patent reform legislation. The bill will strengthen the patent process, making sure that patents that win approval will be stronger and better withstand challenges to their validity.
“In particular, we and other consumer groups approved of provisions in the bill that
- allow for more comprehensive reviews of patent applications, before and after approval;
- ensure that the apportionment of damages for infringement are more fair and
- clarify what will constitute “willful infringement.”
“We congratulate the bill's sponsor, Chairman Howard Berman (D-CA), and his colleagues for their diligence in seeing the bill through to passage. We look forward to Senate debate on a companion bill in the near future.”
A copy of the letter sent by six consumer groups earlier this week supporting the House measure is here:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/pdf/hr1908-letter-20070831.pdf
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.