Sen. Orrin Hatch on Patent Reform

Senator Orrin Hatch has been a deep participant in all major legislative patent reform initiatives for the past 35 years. In a recent update, Sen. Hatch lists upcoming issues for legislative patent reform:

Venue: The Senate will consider the impact of TC Heartland and whether further guidance is needed from Congress. The statement suggests Hatch’s position that the limitations are beneficial because they limit “patent trolls’ ability to forum-shop.”
Inter Partes Review: Hatch suggests that there may be ways to better calibrate the AIA Trials so that it is easier to cancel “unsound patents” while also ensuring that “valid patents” survive the review process.
Eligibility: Hearing calls for eligibility reform, Hatch indicates that the Supreme Court has recently applied the non-statutory exceptions to eligibility “in a way that has caused considerable uncertainty for technology and life sciences companies.”