Rep. Lamar Smith (R – Tex), who is very likely to be the incoming Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, also spoke yesterday at the Texas Global IP Leadership Summit in Austin.
Patent reform is a high priority for him. Unlike the last session of Congress, in which the Senate took the lead, he intends for the House to take a leading role in crafting legislation, with input from the Senate. He expects to hold hearings on patent reform in February, which suggests that he does want to move relatively quickly.
Based on yesterday’s remarks, as well as those made in the past, my impression is that he continues to side with the Coalition for Patent Fairness, which favors, among other things, changes to patent statutes that would likely limit damages in many circumstances.
However, he admitted that obtaining agreement in the Senate on patent reform was likely more difficult than doing so in the House, and he warned that all sides would need to compromise.
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