Posts Tagged: "manus cooney"

A 2015 Trade Policy Outlook

With Republicans in control of both Chambers, the Administration may finally get TPA, fast- track negotiating authority for trade agreements that allows the President to negotiate international agreements that Congress can approve or disapprove but cannot amend or filibuster. Senator Hatch will likely have an ally in incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R- KY), who has signaled that TPA is a pro-business measure that could pass Congress and have the support of the President.

A 2015 IP Policy Outlook

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) will keep copyright high on the Judiciary Committee’s agenda in the 114th Congress. Given that Chairman Goodlatte has already held nearly twenty hearings as part of his copyright review, it is safe to say that the initial hearing stage of the review is coming to a close, although he is expected to hold several additional hearings early this year. The Copyright Office has recommended that Congress should consider providing new and more efficient processes to enable the resolution of small claims. Moreover, senior House Judiciary Committee staff has expressed support for a small copyright claims remedy.

Patent Eligibility in Unsettled Times

Today, after several years of substantial turmoil, patent eligibility in a variety of economically significant technologies is extremely uncertain, including software, natural products, medical diagnostics and personalized medicine. It is with great irony that one of the few things we know with any degree of certainty is that business methods are patent eligible… If you haven’t noticed, overwhelming portions of the U.S. economy are tied to the biotechnology and software sectors. Are we about to throw away our economic leadership? There are already some lawyers talking openly with clients about whether they may be able to in some cases actually get broader, more certain protection outside the United States.

A Summary of the Goodlatte Patent Bill Discussion Draft

EDITOR’S NOTE: What follows is a summary of the Goodlatte patent bill created by American Continental Group, which is a government affairs and strategic consulting firm in Washington, DC. Manus Cooney, a former Chief Counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee is one of the partners at ACG, and is also frequent guest contributor on IPWatchdog.com. Cooney and his partners and associates worked to prepare this summary, which was described as a team effort. It is republished here with permission.

GAO Report Finds No NPE Patent Litigation Crisis

Instead of condemning NPES, the GAO emphasized at the very outset of its report that our nation’s history is filled with examples of inventors who did not develop products based on the patented technologies… [O]verall, the report directly and indirectly supports the view that there is no patent litigation crisis and that, to the extent that there are problems with the patent system, they are linked primarily to patent quality – not the identity of the patent owner (e.g. NPE, PAE, PME, operating company or whatever name one chooses to use).