Wednesday, the Senate held its first hearings regarding the Patent Reform Act.  Both the main stream media and the legal blogs are busy handicapping the battle over the legislation and the Act’s chances of success.  Here are some of the highlights:

The WSJ Law Blog handicaps the big players in Patent Reform’s Battle Royale

The WSJ print edition featured the Senate hearings in a page-one story (subscription required).

FileWrapper provides a nice summary of each witness’s positions.

The New York Times also ran a Business section story.

Patent Prospector takes a very strong position: 

The thankful result of today’s Senate hearing is watching the Patent Reform Act of 2007 appear the statutory tub of lard that it is.