Jim Sensenbrenner: “Congress established the patent reexamination system in 1980. The 1980 reexamination statute was enacted with the intent…”

“Congress established the patent reexamination system in 1980. The 1980 reexamination statute was enacted with the intent reexamination of patents by the Patent and Trademark Office would achieve three principal benefits, first, to settle validity disputes more quickly and less expensively than litigation; second, to allow courts to refer patent validity questions to an agency with expertise in both the patent law and technology; and third, to reinforce investor confidence in the certainty of patent rights by affording an opportunity to review patents of doubtful validity. More than 20 years after the original enactment of the reexamination statute, the Committee on the Judiciary still endorses these goals and encourages third parties to pursue reexamination as an efficient way of settling patent disputes. Reexamination worked well until recently when it was severely limited by a Federal Court of Appeals decision. H.R. 1866 is intended to overturn the 1997 In re Portola Packaging case by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal circuit. That decision severely impairs the patent reexamination process.”