By Donald Zuhn —

In an opinion piece published on POLITICO last week, the new Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) (at right), laid out Congress' resolutions for 2011 ("Judiciary panel's New Year's resolve").  In particular, Chairman Smith noted that Congress (or at least the Republican-controlled House of Representatives) "resolved to cut government spending, promote economic growth and help generate jobs for American workers" in the coming year.  Chairman Smith also promised that "[u]nlike some New Year’s resolutions, this one won't be abandoned in the first weeks of 2011."

The House Judiciary Committee comprises five subcommittees, one of which concerns intellectual property, competition, and the internet.  Therefore, it was not surprising that a portion of Chairman Smith's article focused on the U.S. patent system.  The Chairman stated that one of the Judiciary Committee's priorities would be "to create jobs for Americans by protecting the innovations that drive economic growth."  Noting that "[n]early 30 percent of U.S. workers are found in intellectual-property-related industries like health care, entertainment, renewable energy and information technology," Chairman Smith writes that "[p]atents protect this intellectual property and encourage the creativity and innovation that generate jobs and increase productivity."  The Chairman argues that "[w]hen inventors and businesses invest in research and development that results in patents, they have the right to benefit from their efforts," adding that "[t]he U.S. economy also benefits by the jobs these patents create."  Outlining the Committee's patent-specific goals for 2011, the Chairman states that "[w]e need to improve our patent system to better protect intellectual property and help ensure that good patents are approved quickly."  Echoing the sentiment of his counterpart in the Senate, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman Smith notes that "[t]here is bipartisan support for needed revisions to our patent system, which has not been significantly updated in more than a half-century."

One day after discussing the Committee's 2011 resolutions, Chairman Smith announced that the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet would be chaired by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) (at left).  The Vice-Chairman of the subcommittee will be Howard Coble (R-NC).  In view of the patent reform bill the House passed in 2007 (see "'Patent "Reform' Bill Passes House of Representatives"), patent practitioners and applicants will watch with interest to see whether the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee can introduce and pass patent reform legislation, and if so, what this legislation will look like.