While I was on vacation a week ago, the House passed its version of the America Invents Act, H.R. 1249. There were several last minute amendments made to the bill, including a compromise on funding provisions for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
For those interested, I have made a comparison between the Senate and House bills, which can be downloaded from the link below. I plan to post thoughts on some of the major differences.
I heard several days ago that the Senate might simply vote on the House version, rather than have the bills go through the reconciliation process. However, I have not heard anything more about this possibility.
UPDATE: Senate will take up House bill when it returns on September 6. A vote on motion to invoke cloture is set for September 6. It’s my understanding (probably not entirely correct given the arcane rules of the Senate) that no amendments will be permitted if cloture is invoked, and that debate will be permitted only for 48 hours, at which time the bill may be voted on. If my understanding is incorrect, please comment.
Comparison of House and Senate versions of the America Invents Act of 2011
The Hub of IP 