the rise of so-called "patent trolls" that exist solely to extort disproportionate
direction of patent law debates in previous sessions of Congress. The last
disagreements mostly arising from differences in how various industries incorporate
"first to invent" standard has posed problems because the identity of an
The Senate action followed incremental changes at earlier committee meetings
"We have reaffirmed our commitment to ensuring that our nation's patent laws

Procter & Gamble), pharmaceutical makers, biotechnology and nanotechnology companies,
and arrived just one day after a similar bill cleared the House Judiciary
said of the Senate bill's approval. The group, whose members include Qualcomm,
Committee by a unanimous voice vote.
On Thursday evening, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved by a 13-5 vote
disagreements mostly arising from differences in how various industries incorporate
attempt at such massive overhauls sputtered and ultimately died over intense
Dell, Intel, Microsoft and IBM.
Each bill would establish a "first to file" patent system, which all other
inventor can be hard to prove. The bills lay out a process for contesting a
actually make it to the president's desk this time around still remains to