By Donald Zuhn --
On Monday, the House Committee on the Judiciary announced that it would be holding on hearing on its patent reform bill (H.R. 1260) on April 30, 2009 at 10:00 AM (Eastern). Although the Committee posted a notice regarding the hearing on its website, it did not release a witness list until today. The witnesses scheduled to appear before the Committee include:
Interestingly, Mr. Johnson will be making his second appearance at a Congressional patent reform hearing this year, having appeared as a witness at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing in March. Like Mr. Johnson, Tessera will also be getting a second chance to address a Congressional hearing on patent reform, with Mr. Cassidy replacing Tessera Vice President Taraneh Maghamé, who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Despite her company's focus (micro-electronics and imaging/optics), Patent Docs readers may recall that Ms. Maghamé testified that a gatekeeper approach, in which the court determined the Georgia-Pacific factors to be considered by the jury, was the best method for calculating a reasonable royalty (see "Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing on Patent Reform").
Unfortunately, the witness list for the House hearing appears to be nearly as imbalanced as the witness list for the Senate hearing. While Mr. Johnson -- the lone life sciences representative at the Senate hearing -- will be joined by Mr. Lasersohn of the Vertical Group, a venture capital firm focused on medical technology and biotechnology, the Coalition for Patent Fairness will once again be well-represented, with Mr. Simon and Mr. Chandler taking over for Mr. Appleton, the Chairman and CEO of Micron Technology, Inc. The witness list also includes Mr. Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, who is described on DEKA's website as an inventor, entrepreneur, and tireless advocate for science and technology and Professor Thomas from Georgetown University Law School.
• David Simon, Chief Patent Counsel for Intel, Inc.;
• Philip Johnson, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for Johnson & Johnson;
• John Thomas, Professor at Georgetown University Law School;
• Jack Lasersohn, Partner with the Vertical Group;
• Dean Kamen, DEKA Research and Development Inc.;
• Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President for Cisco; and
• Bernard Cassidy, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Tessera Inc.
• Philip Johnson, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel for Johnson & Johnson;
• John Thomas, Professor at Georgetown University Law School;
• Jack Lasersohn, Partner with the Vertical Group;
• Dean Kamen, DEKA Research and Development Inc.;
• Mark Chandler, Senior Vice President for Cisco; and
• Bernard Cassidy, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Tessera Inc.
Interestingly, Mr. Johnson will be making his second appearance at a Congressional patent reform hearing this year, having appeared as a witness at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing in March. Like Mr. Johnson, Tessera will also be getting a second chance to address a Congressional hearing on patent reform, with Mr. Cassidy replacing Tessera Vice President Taraneh Maghamé, who appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Despite her company's focus (micro-electronics and imaging/optics), Patent Docs readers may recall that Ms. Maghamé testified that a gatekeeper approach, in which the court determined the Georgia-Pacific factors to be considered by the jury, was the best method for calculating a reasonable royalty (see "Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing on Patent Reform").
Unfortunately, the witness list for the House hearing appears to be nearly as imbalanced as the witness list for the Senate hearing. While Mr. Johnson -- the lone life sciences representative at the Senate hearing -- will be joined by Mr. Lasersohn of the Vertical Group, a venture capital firm focused on medical technology and biotechnology, the Coalition for Patent Fairness will once again be well-represented, with Mr. Simon and Mr. Chandler taking over for Mr. Appleton, the Chairman and CEO of Micron Technology, Inc. The witness list also includes Mr. Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, who is described on DEKA's website as an inventor, entrepreneur, and tireless advocate for science and technology and Professor Thomas from Georgetown University Law School.
Do you have a link (or the list itself)?
Posted by: Amy | April 30, 2009 at 12:16 AM
Amy:
Your comment caught me halfway between putting up the title and the body of the post. The rest of the post is now up, including a link to the House website and a list of the witnesses. Thank you for your comment.
Don
Posted by: Donald Zuhn | April 30, 2009 at 12:26 AM
Chandler, Simon, Intel, Cisco - same old, same old.
There is NO representative of universities, NO representative of the VCs (VC investment is sagging - think of what it would do for the economy if 5% of the $$$ used to bail-out Wall Street crooks were put into science and VCs). As far as I can see, only ONE inventor.
Posted by: anonymousAgent | April 30, 2009 at 03:28 PM