Welcome to Skilled in the Art. I'm Law.com IP reporter Scott Graham. Today I've got an update on what I like to think of as Mission Impossible: Section 101 Protocol.That's the effort by Sens. Thom Tillis and Chris Coons to forge a legislative compromise on the statutory definition of patent eligibility. They're holding a second roundtable among stakeholders this week, and they've now got their own subcommittee to process the work. If you're wondering what patent holders mean when they say the current state of the law is too unpredictable, look no further than appeals heard last week involving Trading Technologies Inc. As I describe below, the Federal Circuit is considering whether it should ignore its own 2017 ruling on the same patents. As always you can email me your thoughts and follow me on Twitter.

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Sens. Thom Tillis, left, and Chris Coons.

Senators Press Ahead on Section 101 Mission

In his annual predictions column for 2019, IP Watchdog's Gene Quinn flatly stated that “Congress will do nothing on patent reform in 2019.” But, he predicted, “there will be much effort behind the scenes on Capitol Hill to position various legislative fixes to 35 U.S.C. 101 so that when attention does turn to patent eligibility the ground work will be laid and much of the heavy lifting already done.”

So far, Quinn's predictions seem to be playing out. Efforts on Section 101 are under way behind and in front of the scenes. And they probably have years to go before bearing any fruit.

The latest development came last week as the Senate Judiciary Committee announced it would reestablish a subcommittee on intellectual property. Subcommittee Chair Thom Tillis said the move is prompted by issues ranging from “rampant theft from state actors like China, to confusion among innovators and inventors about what is even patentable.”