3/8. The Senate passed S 23 [LOC | WW], the huge patent reform bill titled "America Invents Act", by a vote of 95-5. See, Roll Call No. 35.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID), Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), and Sen. James Risch (R-ID) voted no.

The House and Senate have been working on patent reform legislation since 2005. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and others introduced S 23 on January 25, 2011. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) approved the bill on February 3. The full Senate began debate on February 28.

The Senate tabled an amendment on March 2 offered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that would have removed the transition to a first to file system. The vote was 87-13. Most of the supporters represent Western states. See, Roll Call No. 31.

The Senate voted to cut off debate on March 7, by a vote of 87-3. See, Roll Call No. 34. Sen. Cantwell, Sen. Crapo, and Sen. Risch voted no.

Sen. Leahy stated in the Senate on March 8 that "This will keep America in its longstanding position at the pinnacle of innovation. This bill will establish a more efficient and streamlined patent system that will improve patent quality and limit unnecessary and counterproductive litigation costs, while making sure no party's access to court is denied."

Sen. Hatch, a cosponsor, praised the bill. He said that it provides for "transitioning to a first-inventor-to-file system, which all the rest of the world has; allowing third parties to submit relevant prior art during patent prosecution; creating a patent quality-enhancing supplemental examination process; and instituting a post-grant review and an inter partes reexamination expansion." See, Congressional Record, March 8, 2011, at Page S1357.

He also said that it "provides fee-setting authority and addresses a long-felt need by the patent community and now by the majority of this body to end the practice -- the obnoxious practice -- of diverting fees from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office."

Business Method Patents. Sen. Hatch also stated that the bill "makes important clarifications to tax strategy patents and creates a pilot program to review already-issued business method patents."

Senators discussed at some length the pilot program for business method patents, which was added to the bill on March 1 by an amendment offered by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

Sen. Leahy said that "It is still unclear whether the subject matter of these patents qualifies as patentable subject matter under current law."

"If a petitioner provides evidence to the PTO and the PTO determines that the patent is on a ``covered business method patent´´ then the PTO would institute a post-grant review of that patent. In this review, the PTO could consider any challenge that could be heard in court." Sen. Leahy added that "The proceeding has a higher threshold than current reexamination before the PTO will even undertake a review of the patent. So as a practical matter, a patent without any serious challenge to its validity would never be subject to a proceeding."

Sen. Schumer stated that "The transition program created by the Schumer-Kyl amendment is designed to provide a cheaper, faster alternative to district court litigation over the validity of business-method patents. This program should be used instead of, rather than in addition to, civil litigation. To that end, the amendment expressly authorizes a stay of litigation in relation to such proceedings and places a very heavy thumb on the scale in favor of a stay being granted. It is congressional intent that a stay should only be denied in extremely rare instances."

House of Representatives. The House has not passed this bill.

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC), stated in a release on March 8 that "Today's vote in the Senate is a victory for American innovators who create businesses, generate jobs and drive economic growth. The current patent system is outdated and is bogged down by frivolous suits and uncertainty regarding patent ownership. Patent reform unleashes American inventors and allows patent holders to capitalize on their innovations and create new products and more jobs.

He continued that "The Senate bill makes several important changes to our patent system. The House will introduce similar legislation this month".

Rep. Smith also stated that "Adopting a first-inventor-to-file standard creates certainty about patent ownership and makes it easier for American innovators to apply for patents around the world. The post-grant review process helps to reduce frivolous lawsuits filed by holders of weak or overbroad patents. And allowing for the third party submission of prior art helps prevent bad patents from being granted in the first place. These are just a few of the many provisions for which there is widespread support."

President Obama. President Obama supports this bill. He stated in a release on March 8 that "Creating new jobs and new opportunities in a fiercely competitive world demands policies that encourage and support American innovation and ingenuity. So I’m pleased that, on a bipartisan basis, the Senate has passed the most significant patent reform in over half a century."

He continued that "This long-overdue reform is vital to our ongoing efforts to modernize America's patent laws and reduce the backlog of 700,000 patent applications -- which won't just increase transparency and certainty for inventors, entrepreneurs and businesses, but help grow our economy and create good jobs."

Finally, "I look forward to working with the House of Representatives to pass patent reform legislation I can sign into law."

Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke also praised the bill. He stated in a release that "I urge swift action in the House so that long-awaited patent reform legislation can become law."

3/9. The House Commerce Committee's (HCC) Subcommittee on Communications and Technology approved HJRes 37, a resolution disapproving the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) rules regulating broadband internet access service (BIAS) providers.

The vote, 15-8, broke down along party lines. All of the Republicans who voted, voted for the resolution. All of the Democrats who voted, voted against the resolution. See, roll call.

Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), the Chairman of the Subcommittee, read a prepared statement [PDF] at the meeting. He stated that "A vote against the resolution is nothing more than a vote to allow the FCC to reclassify broadband under Title II once the agency loses the appeal of this order in court. More than 300 members from both sides of the aisle have opposed such reclassification. Moreover, 58 Democrats voted with us in 2006 to oppose network neutrality. Some of those Democrats are still on the full committee. Some are still on this subcommittee. And that was not even a vote against a Title II versus a Title I approach. That was a vote against imposing network neutrality rules at all."

He continued that "The resolution is simply a narrowly tailored vehicle to eliminate rules regulating the Internet that the FCC did not have authority to impose. Of far greater concern should be the order. To say the order creates certainty is absurd. The only uncertainty the order even partially resolves is the uncertainty the FCC itself created by threatening reclassification. And the agency has not even closed the Title II proceeding. Supporting the resolution of disapproval will also avoid the collateral damage to the FCC’s authority that would come when the agency loses the appeal in court."

He also stated that "Some carriers have decided that bad was better than worse and that they were large enough to absorb the hit from the rules. That is a far cry from the story the FCC is telling: that industry supports the order and it is good for the economy. And what of the smaller providers like Mr. DeReggi, who testified today. He does not have the resources either to absorb the hit or send a team of lawyers to camp out daily at the FCC. And as Ms. Kovacs points out, the rules create a regulatory weapon to shift costs from web companies to broadband providers, harming both the core and the edge of the Internet in the process."

See also, prepared statement [PDF] of Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), the Chairman of the full Committee.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) stated at the meeting that this resolution is "a terrible bill" that "would allow phone and cable companies to control what web sites Americans can visit, and what applications they can run."

He added that "It is opposed by high tech industry" and others. He noted too that "Republicans could not get a single major broadband provider to testify today in opposition to the rules, or in support of their legislation."

He complained that no amendments were allowed, as did other Democrats. See also, March 7, 2011, letter [PDF] of Subcommittee Democrats. Rep. Walden ruled several amendments to be out of order.

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee, stated that she opposes this resolution, that it is "a waste of time", and that its "will do damage" by creating "uncertainty in the broadband ecosystem". See also, release.

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA), stated that there is no rush, because "the Senate is not going to take this up until this summer". See also, release.

Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) stated that "the proposal is not going to be considered in the Senate. It may or may not pass the House."

He added that "The proper place for this matter then to be reviewed is in the courts. And the action of the FCC is going to be tied in the courts of a goodly while, and never ever reach any semblance of reality."

Neil Fried, of the majority staff, responded to numerous questions from Democrats.

This resolution provides that it is "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Federal Communications Commission relating to the matter of preserving the open Internet and broadband industry practices (Report and Order FCC 10-201, adopted by the Commission on December 21, 2010), and such rule shall have no force or effect." (Parentheses in original.)

Derek Turner of the Free Press stated in a release that "We are deeply disappointed that Congress has chosen to move forward with this dangerous overreach that would hamstring the FCC and leave Internet users unprotected from discrimination online. If this resolution becomes law, companies like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon will have free rein to censor free speech or block access to any website. There may be much to dislike about what this FCC did and how it did it, but the fundamental point here is we cannot simply set up a false choice between what the FCC did and no policy at all."

3/9. President Obama nominated Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to be Ambassador to the People's Republic of China. See, White House news office release.

Sandra Aistars, head of the Copyright Alliance, stated in a release that "Appropriate copyright protection internationally is of key importance to the entire copyright community, from the largest corporation to the self-employed artist and entrepreneur. Secretary Locke, who has demonstrated his deep commitment to promoting U.S. exports and understands the importance of intellectual property protection, will be a much-needed advocate on the ground for American copyright-based businesses and workers."

Robert Holleyman, head of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), stated in a release that "Secretary Locke is an exceptionally well-qualified and respected choice to be US Ambassador to China. He is an energetic and effective champion for US industry in general and for software companies and other copyright holders in particular".

Bob Pisano, head of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), stated in a release that "Secretary Locke has a strong record in support of American workers and businesses whose livelihoods are dependent on exports. And, he has an outstanding record of championing intellectual property rights."

3/1. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) announced that former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) will become its Chairman and CEO, effective March 17, 2011.

Sen. Dodd served five terms in the Senate. He will replace Bob Pisano, interim head of the MPAA. Jack Valenti was head of the MPAA from 1966 through 2004. Former Rep. Dan Glickman (D-KS) led the MPAA from 2004 through 2010.

Dodd stated in an MPAA release that "The major motion picture studios consistently produce and distribute the most sought after and enjoyable entertainment on earth. Protecting this great American export will be my highest priority."

3/8. Craig Aaron will become head of the Free Press (FP) in mid April. He will replace Josh Silver, who will become the founding CEO of the Democracy Fund.

The FP is a Washington DC based interest group that, among other things, advocates federal regulation of broadband internet access service (BIAS) providers, and government subsidized news media.

Aaron, who is currently the FP's Managing Director, stated in a release that the FP will continue its "efforts to build broad, diverse popular support for better media and the open Internet everywhere".

The House will meet at 10:00 AM for morning hour and, and at 12:00 PM for legislative business. Last votes expected no later than 7:00 PM.

The Senate will meet at 10:00 AM.

8:15 AM - 1:30 PM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host an event titled "U.S. Competitiveness: A New Conversation with New Opportunities". The speakers will be Paul Jacobs (Qualcomm), John Leibovitz (FCC), Bryan Mistele, Cameron Powell, Jon Taplin, and Robert Atkinson (ITIF). See, notice. Location: Columbus Room, Union Station.

8:30 AM. Day two of a two day partially closed meeting of the Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Emerging Technology and Research Advisory Committee. The Thursday portion of the meeting is closed to the public. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 23, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 36, at Pages 10004-10005. Location: DOC, Room 3884, Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.

9:30 AM. The U.S. Court of Appeals (DCCir) will hear oral argument in Electronic Privacy Information Center v. DHS, App. Ct. No. 10-1157, a federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case regarding the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) use of body scanners. Judges Ginsburg, Henderson, and Tatel will preside. See, the EPIC's web page for this case. Location: 333 Constitution Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) will hold an executive business meeting. The agenda again includes consideration of S 193 [LOC | WW], the "USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act of 2011". It also includes consideration of judicial nominees The SJC rarely follows its published agendas. The SJC will webcast this event. See, notice. Location: Room 226, Dirksen Building.

10:00 AM - 1:00 PM. The House Intelligence Committee (HIC) will hold a partially closed markup and hearing on HR 754 [LOC | WW], the "Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011" and the intelligence budget for FY 2012. See, notice. Location: Room HVC-304, Capitol Visitor Center.

10:00 AM. The House Appropriations Committee's (HAC) Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Related Agencies will hold a hearing on the FY 2012 budget for the National Science Foundation (NSF). Location: Room H-309, Capitol Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing on several pending nominations, including that of Philip Coyle to be Associate Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

11:00 AM. The Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) will hold a hearing on the FY 2012 budget request for the Department of Justice (DOJ). Location: Room 192, Dirksen Building.

TIME CHANGE. 1:00 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet will hold a hearing titled "Review of Recent Judicial Decisions on Patent Law". The witnesses will be Dan Burk (UC Irvine law school), Andrew Pincus (Mayer Brown), and Dennis Crouch (University of Missouri law school). See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

1:00 PM. The President's Export Council's (PEC) Subcommittee on Export Administration will meet. The meeting will address the export control regime. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 23, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 36, at Pages 10004. Location: DOC, Room 4830, Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.

3:00 PM. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (SHSGAC) will hold a hearing titled "Information Sharing in the Era of WikiLeaks: Balancing Security and Collaboration". See, notice. Location: Room 342, Dirksen Building.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold a workshop regarding unlicensed operation in the TV broadcast bands, and its Order which conditionally designates nine entities as TV bands device database administrators. The FCC's Office of Engineering and Technology (OET) adopted and released this Order on January 26, 2011. It is DA 11-131 in ET Docket Nos. 04-186 and 02-380. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 8, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 26, at Pages 6789-6792. Location: FCC Columbia laboratory, 7435 Oakland Mills Road, Columbia, MD. See, directions.

Deadline to submit initial comments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding spectrum use in the Experimental Radio Service (ERS). The FCC adopted and released this NPRM on November 30, 2010. It is FCC 10-197 in ET Docket No. 10-236. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 8, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 26, at Pages 6927-6956.

8:30 AM - 5:30 PM. Day one of a two day workshop of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO). See, notice in the Federal Register, February 15, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 31, at Page 8788. Location: George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs, 1957 E St., NW.

The House will meet at 9:00 AM for legislative business.

The Senate will not meet.

8:30 AM - 5:30 PM. Day two of a two day workshop of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO). See, notice in the Federal Register, February 15, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 31, at Page 8788. Location: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Ave., NW.

9:30 AM. The President's Export Council (PEC) will meet. The PEC will webcast this event. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 18, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 34, at Page 9550. Location?

10:00 AM. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's (HOGRC) Subcommittee on Technology will hold a hearing titled "Transparency Through Technology: Evaluating Federal Open-Government Initiatives". See, notice. Location: Room 2154, Rayburn Building.

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft NIST IR-7670 [17 pages in PDF] titled "Proposed Open Specifications for an Enterprise Remediation Automation Framework".

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft NIST IR-7756 [54 pages in PDF] titled "CAESARS Framework Extension: An Enterprise Continuous Monitoring Technical Reference Architecture".

Deadline to submit comments to the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Computer Security Division (CSD) regarding its draft SP 800-147 [25 pages in PDF] titled "Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) Protection Guidelines".

The Senate will meet at 2:00 PM.

9:00 AM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Communications Security, Reliability, and Interoperability Council will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 24, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 37, at Page 10362. Location: FCC, Room TW-C305, 445 12th St., SW.

Deadline to submit to the Copyright Royalty Judges a Petition to Participate in its proceeding to determine the Phase II distribution of 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003 royalties collected under the cable statutory license, and the accompanying $150 filing fee. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 10, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 28, at Pages 7590-7591.

9:00 AM. The Department of Commerce's (DOC) Bureau of Industry and Security's (BIS) Regulations and Procedures Technical Advisory Committee (RPTAC) will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 22, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 35, at Pages 9744-9745. Location: DOC, Room 4830, Hoover Building, 14th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW.

10:00 AM. The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Emergency Response Interoperability Center Public Safety Advisory Committee will meet. See, notice in the Federal Register: February 28, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 39, at Page 10898. See also, FCC's ERIC web page. Location: FCC, Commission Meeting Room.

1:30 PM. The House Judiciary Committee's (HJC) Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial, and Administrative Law will hold a hearing titled "Wireless Tax Fairness Act of 2011". See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

9:30 - 11:30 AM. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) will host an event titled "The National Purposes in the National Broadband Plan: One Year Later". The speakers will be Blair Levin, Jennifer Manner (FCC), Steve Midgley, Nick Sinai, Phoebe Yang, Elana Berkowitz, Mohit Kaushal, and Robert Atkinson (ITIF). See, notice. Location: Jenner & Block, Suite 900, 1099 New York Ave., NW.

10:00 AM. The House Homeland Security Committee's (HHSC) Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies will hold a hearing titled "Examining the Cyber Threat to Critical Infrastructure and the American Economy". See, notice. Location: Room 311, Cannon Building.

10:00 AM. The Senate Commerce Committee (SCC) will hold a hearing titled "The State of Consumer Online Privacy". See, notice. Location: Room 253, Russell Building.

1:00 AM. The House Judiciary Committee (HJC) will hold an oversight hearing on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). See, notice. Location: Room 2141, Rayburn Building.

1:00 PM. The House Small Business Committee (HSBC) will hold a hearing titled "Spurring Innovation and Job Creation: The SBIR Program". See, notice. Location: Room 2360, Rayburn Building.

12:00 NOON - 2:00 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "16th Copyright Office Speaks Luncheon with Hon Maria Pallante -- Register of Copyrights". This event is closed to reporters. See, notice. The price to attend ranges from $55 to $65. Location: City Club of Washington at Franklin, 1300 I St., NW.

12:00 NOON - 1:45 PM. The DC Bar Association will host an event titled "Estate Planning with Digital Assets and Tech Savvy Clients". The speakers will be Anne W Coventry (Pasternak & Fidis) and Karin Prangley (Krasnow Saunders Cornblath). See, notice. The price to attend ranges from free to $35. For more information, call 202-626-3463 Location: DC Bar Conference Center, 1101 K St., NW.

Deadline to submit comments to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding how it might use the Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries (PTDLs) more effectively. See, notice in the Federal Register, February 8, 2011, Vol. 76, No. 26, at Pages 6764-6765.

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