The Senate approves S.23 by 95-5 vote

Reuters reported:

In a 95-5 vote, the Senate approved on Tuesday [March 8, 2011] the bill that would boost funding for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and sets up mechanisms for objecting to patent applications and for challenging patents before they reach the courts.


Wile E. Coyote was based on a character in a Mark Twain book. [wikipedia: Jones based the Coyote on Mark Twain's book Roughing It, in which Twain described the coyote as "a long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton" that is "a living, breathing allegory of Want. He is always hungry." ]

S.23 is a sorry-looking skeleton for true reform, with "first to file" and "post grant review" irrelevant appendages that don't get to the problem of inadequate time to examiner cases or complaints about damages.

Also within the patent reform bill, on taxes :

The tax patent reform provisions prevent any individual or firm from patenting tax strategies, which could otherwise subject taxpayers to royalty fees for using the patented strategy when filing their taxes. The bill also stops tax patents from providing windfalls to lawyers and patent holders by preventing them from holding exclusive rights to use loopholes, which could provide some businesses with unfair advantages over their competitors.