AFL-CIO Executive Council Adopts Resolution Opposing Senate Patent Reform Measure: The 66-member Executive Council of the AFL-CIO has adopted a policy resolution opposing pending Senate legislation on Patent Reform at it’s meeting in San Diego in early March.

Citing “many” continuing concerns over the contents of the bill, the Council called it “ironic” that Congress would consider changes that would “undermine the effectiveness of our patent protections” at a time “when our nation is pressing China to upgrade its protection of intellectual property and to expand the rule of law.”

The statement notes labor’s concerns in three key areas of the bill: damages, post-grant review and publication, asserting that the AFL-CIO will “work actively to protect the interests of U.S. workers whose jobs and income rely on a strong patent system.”

read more

Patent Reform Legislation Would Usher Out U.S. Jobs: OP-ED from the Columbus Dispatch written by William Burga, past president Ohio AFL-CIO

read more

The Patent Reform Fight

Statements from pharmaceutical competitors in India and China hailing the pending Patent Reform legislation are taken as a strong indicator of just how dangerous the measure would be for the domestic industry. Patent Reform threatens jobs and the future growth of America’s Pharmaceutical Industry. This bill should not be enacted.

Background

In a 220 to 175 vote (160 Dems and 60 Republicans supported the bill), the House of Representatives passed so-called “patent reform” legislation (HR 1908) ostensibly to “harmonize” U.S. Patent laws with the rest of the world. The measure is seen as a dangerous and misdirected bill that threatens the intellectual property rights of major research and development firms in biotechnology, hi tech medicine and pharmaceuticals.
Support for the patent reform measure comes largely from the biggest software and Silicon Valley firms such as Intel, Microsoft, Apple and Cisco. Visa, MasterCard and Countrywide Financial have also signed on to the business coalition backing passage of the measure.
The bill’s backers want the legislation to free them from litigation threats brought by inventors. Software and high tech manufacturers have paid millions of dollars after the fact to satisfy claims by patent holders who have found their ideas incorporated into finished products without their approval.

Schedule
The Senate’s version of the Patent Reform legislation (S. 1145) is currently awaiting floor action. It was co-authored by Committee Chair Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT). The Senate Committee’s members are sharply divided over the measure—most of the internal votes on the measure have reportedly been 10-9. The bill is said to be scheduled for a Senate vote in early 2008.

What the Chinese are Saying
	Dear Colleague Letter from Reps. Michael Michaud and Don Manzullo (pdf) Quoting Yengshun Cheng, the Chinese government's top authority on intellectual property describing the U.S. House and Senate Patent Reform bills— "will weaken the right of patentees greatly, increase their burden and reduce remedies for infringement…is friendlier to the infringers than to the patentees in general as it will make the patent less reliable, easier to be challenged and cheaper to be infringed"…"Many of the Chinese companies are not patent owners in the U.S. and their products are often excluded from the market because of patent infringement accusations. This bill will give the companies from developing countries more freedom and flexibility to challenge the relative U.S. patent for doing business in the U.S. and make it less costly to infringe."
	Read the Report by Pat Choate of the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation (pdf)