On the recordMarch 1, 2011
I commend the chairman of the Judiciary Committee for his hard work in putting together this managers' amendment and building consensus for this bill. Part of the managers' amendment strikes most of section 4 of the bill, relating to damages. As the chairman knows, I worked very hard on the ``gatekeeper'' damages language in this section of the bill. That language represented a compromise between high-technology companies, many located in my State of California, which believed that the law relating to patent damages needed reform, and other interests, including universities, biotech, pharmaceutical companies, and small inventors, who were greatly concerned that the preferred solution of the high-technology companies, namely apportionment of damages, would be destructive to the value of patents. However, since then, the courts have further developed the law relating to damages, so I understand that the chairman proposes to now strike the gatekeeper damages language from the bill.
