It seems that patent reform this year has been stalled if not killed. Senator Patrick Leahy says the measure, which was already adopted by the House, says that the bill is held up by “just a handful of words”, also saying “this was a missed opportunity”.

Thousands of hours have been spent in negotiations to address the concerns of 100 Senators, hundreds of Representatives, and dozens of stakeholders

It seems that this handful of words is related to the regulation of damages arising from patent infringement. Some of the country’s largest corporations, such as Cisco, Bank of America, and Microsoft, are joined together in support of the bill, dubbing themselves the “Coalition for Patent Fairness”.