One Step Forward, Two Steps Back—Patent Reform Delayed But Sponsors Remain Committed, Commentary Surges

On February 13, 2008, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vermont), co-sponsor of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1145), indicated that the Senate will delay consideration of the bill until at least April because it is unlikely that the bill will be scheduled for floor action before the two-week congressional recess running through March 28. Nonetheless, Senator Leahy and the bill's co-sponsor, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), announced their enduring commitment to patent reform in a February 15 editorial in the Washington Times. In the editorial, entitled "Meaningful Patent Reform," the senators emphasized the need to modernize the patent system. "The last time the patent system was significantly changed, the structure of DNA had not been discovered; gasoline was around 27 cents a gallon; and we had not yet sent a man to the moon. [...] We are living in the Information Age, and the products and