Pity the poor lawmaker.

Lobbyists from America’s richest and most influential companies are walking the halls of Congress arguing for the need to preserve American innovation.

Lobbyists for high-tech firms like Intel and Cisco say the best way to do that would be for senators to pass a patent bill that will reduce the number of bad patents. But pharmaceutical companies and smaller tech firms say the bill itself weakens patent protection and poses a major threat to American competitiveness.

The debate quickly deteriorates into arcane talk of offshore patent trolls, inequitable conduct, prior art and obviousness.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the patent reform on Sept. 7, and the Senate is supposed to take it up “in the next few weeks,” according to Cisco’s General Counsel Mark Chandler.

The push for reform aims to address high tech’s irritation at patent trolls — a reference to lawyers who buy patents and file infringement lawsuits, often against high tech companies whose products can use hundreds of patented gadgets.

Cisco’s Chandler says his company has even seen patent trolls move offshore, a sort of outsourcing of patent trolling.

How will the Senate vote? Your best bet is look at which companies are in a senator’s home state for a clue.
—by Diane Bartz

(Photo: Reuters)