New legislation is currently before both the House and Senate that will substantially change U.S. patent laws. Many of the changes were initially proposed in 2006 and again in 2007 without success. The new legislation, entitled, The 2009 Patent Reform Act (S.515 and H. 1260) is substantially identical to the prior proposals and contain many provisions of the earlier bills. See the article entitled, "2009 Patent Law Reform Act - Major Changes will impact patent filings" below.

Supreme Court Issues New Rules of Discovery Concerning Storage of Electronic Records.

     Washington, D.C., December 1, 2006.  Changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on discovery impact how businesses must store electronic records such as emails, instant messages, digital images and drawings.  See the article entitled, "New Federal Rules Concerning Storage of Electronic Data," below.