Establishing a Pilot Program in Certain District Courts

ESTABLISHING A PILOT PROGRAM IN CERTAIN DISTRICT COURTS -- (House of Representatives - September 28, 2006)

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5418, legislation that I introduced with my colleague, Representative Issa, in order to establish a pilot program in the Federal district courts to encourage the enhancement of expertise in patent cases among district judges.

I want to thank my colleague from California for his leadership and tenacity on this issue that has brought us to this place. I also want to thank the chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and the Chair and ranking member of the Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property for working to bring the bill to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleague, Mr. Issa, in introducing this legislation because I believe it is a worthy proposal that is narrowly drafted and will provide us with valuable and important insight on the operation of patent litigation in the Federal court system.

This patent pilot program, created under the bill, is designed to enhance expertise in patent cases among district judges, provides district courts with resources and training to reduce error rates in patent cases, and helps reduce the high cost and lost time associated with patent litigation.

The legislation has received an impressive display of broad-based support from a wide-ranging spectrum of interested parties, including the technology industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the consumer electronics industry, biotech, intellectual property owners and other IP organizations, as well as a U.S. district chief judge.

Several months ago, the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Courts, Internet and Intellectual Property held a hearing on improving Federal court adjudication of patent cases. At this hearing a number of proposed solutions were discussed, serious concerns were expressed with other proposals that would have called for the creation of a new specialized court as well as proposals that would move all patent cases to an existing specialized court.

These concerns centered around the need to maintain generalist judges, random case assignment, and to maintain the important legal percolation that occurs currently among the various district courts.

Our approach avoids these pitfalls and is a worthwhile program that Congress should establish on a test basis. It also bears mentioning that we have consulted very closely with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the representative of the Federal judiciary.

Indeed, these discussions led to a number of important improvements to the legislation that are reflected in the final product. We are also pleased that companion legislation has been introduced in the other body by Senators HATCH and FEINSTEIN.

In closing, I would like to stress that while this legislation is an important first step to addressing needed patent reforms, I believe that Congress must continue to work to address a number of issues surrounding patent litigation that require broad-based reforms to our patent system.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to continuing my work with my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee and in Congress to address these issues

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