The Patent Reform Act is on the Senate’s calendar and is expected to be voted on in February. The version voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee is different than the version passed by the House. Experts expect that, instead of forming a joint committee to resolve the differences which generally requires a second vote by both chambers, the House will vote on any version of the Patent Reform Act passed by the Senate.

That means that it is time to take a close look at the Senate version of the Patent Reform Act. The damages and venue provisions continue to be some of the most significant and hotly-contested. And it is no surprise that the various stakeholders are making their positions heard loudly again. I considered analyzing each provision of the current Senate bill, but Patent Docs beat me to it and did an excellent job:

• First to File
• Assignee Filings, Mandatory Publication, and Third Party Submissions
• Interlocutory Decisions & Venue
• Damages
• Applicant Quality Submissions & Micro-Entities
• Post-Grant Procedures
• Inequitable Conduct Provisions
• Late Patent Filings         

Several other blogs are also keeping a close eye on the stakeholders and the sausage-making aspects of the Patent Reform Act, among the best:

• 271 Patent Blog
• Filewrapper
• IP Biz
• Patent Baristas
• Patently-O
• Maryland IP Law Blog (and here regarding the increased internet coverage of Patent Reform during February)