Patent Prospector: Silk Purse from a Sow's Ear: "The Patent Reform Act of 2007 is hopefully too wretched and controversial to become law, but it has laid out a trough for the swine known collectively as the Congress of the United States. As one onlooker observed, 'The controversy certainly is a good income stream for the politicians.' Invitations are flowing to interested parties to attend breakfasts and receptions at $1,000 on up, for the chance to hobnob for a moment with an esteemed Senator or Congressperson, mouthing patent-reform-this or patent-reform-that to a pair of deaf ears attached to a fattening piggy bank.
The cynical view is that the push for the Patent Reform Act of 2007 is nothing more than a hustle, a foredoomed rainmaking dance. Sen. Hatch has already acknowledged that the Act is a train running to be derailed. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and House Judiciary Howard Berman (D-Calif.), have been pushing hard; it makes one ponder how well their tills are filling for all the lobbying."
