A Bruising Fight Awaits in Washington

The town of Chouteau, Oklahoma, has two traffic lights?one for every 1,000 people?and an interest in patent reform. At least its chamber of commerce does. In a letter to Congress this June, Chouteau and four other tiny Oklahoma towns joined the well-funded Coalition for Patent Fairness, made up mostly of corporate giants like Microsoft Corp. and Citigroup, Inc.) to urge passage of the Patent Reform Act of 2007. Meanwhile, the Innovation Alliance, a rival group representing biotech and nanotech companies, venture capitalists, and small business, has reemerged with its own agenda.

In fact, when Congress left Washington D.C. on its summer recess in August, it left the stage set for a punishing battle on patent reform this fall. Earlier in the year, patent reform had looked doomed. The House of Representatives and the Senate had introduced nearly identical reform bills in January to great fanfare, but six months later the debate seemed stalled. But in mid-July the House and Senate Judiciary Committees finally released their amended bills for a vote. Congress now has until mid-December to push through any remaining legislation for the year. But reaching a winning compromise will require a lot of arm-wrestling.