Patent Reform Deal Uncertain, Bill Pulled from Senate Agenda

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Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday that he was taking a controversial patent bill off the committee’s agenda for now.

The committee had been attempting to reach agreement on amendments to a bill aimed at reducing patent litigation brought by patent assertion entities, often called “patent trolls” by their critics. The measure is similar to legislation passed overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives in December.

“Because there is not sufficient support behind any comprehensive deal, I am taking the patent bill off the Senate Judiciary Committee agenda,” Leahy said in a statement.

“If the stakeholders are able to reach a more targeted agreement that focuses on the problem of patent trolls, there will be a path for passage this year and I will bring it immediately to the committee,” Leahy said.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Ros Krasny and Bill Trott)