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HP Applauds Senators Hatch and
Leahy for Patent Reform Efforts
Statement by Stacey Stern Albert, HP
Government Affairs Manager
For Immediate Release: August 4, 2006
HP applauds U.S. Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee
Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member
Patrick Leahy (D-VT) for introducing last night the “Patent Reform
Act of 2006,” which improves the patent system and better
ensures patent quality while curbing excessive litigation.
HP is pleased to see these leaders in Congress working in a
bipartisan fashion on the urgent need to reform patent law in a
meaningful way and HP urges the Congress to do so until this
legislation is signed into law. The Act, among other things, will
provide common sense standards on damages in patent
infringement cases; limit the determination of “willful”
infringement to egregious cases thereby reducing the availability
of treble damages; end the practice of “forum shopping” so that
litigation will be resolved in appropriate courts; repeal Section
271(f); and institute a new type of post-grant review preceding
that will allow the validity of a patent to be challenged in an
administrative proceeding conducted by the Patent and
Trademark Office (PTO) rather than in overly expensive, long
court litigation.
Reforming the law through the “Patent Reform Act of 2006,”
together with the Supreme Court’s decision in the eBay case, will
save companies billions of dollars in unfounded patent litigation.
HP looks forward to continuing its work with the U.S. Senate and
House of Representatives to reform inefficient patent law and
enable companies such as HP to invest more resources in
research and development (R&D) initiatives while maintaining
America’s competitiveness in today’s global marketplace.
About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and
institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure,
global services, business and home computing, and imaging and
printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended April 30, 2006, HP revenue
totaled $88.9 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq:
HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com.
© 2006 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
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