CapitolPatents have been getting a lot of attention on Capitol Hill lately, with the reintroduced SHIELD Act and the recent Congressional hearing on “abusive patent litigation.”  Next week patents will get even more airtime, as the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet will hold a hearing titled Abusive Patent Litigation: The Issues Affecting American Competitiveness and Job Creation at the U.S. International Trade Commission and Beyond.  The hearing will take place on April 16 at 2:00pm in Rayburn House Office Building Room 2141, and will be webcast live online.  (The witness list is not yet available, but we’ll post an update when it becomes available).

You may recall that in July 2012, the Judiciary Committee held a similar hearing on the ITC and patent disputes (webcast and transcript available here).  Standard-essential patent issues came up frequently during that hearing, and we’re sure that they will be a hot topic of conversation next week (along with non-practicing entities, of course).  We will be watching, and will do a follow-up post on any interesting SEP-related issues that are mentioned by the witnesses or Congressional representatives.