Chief Judge Paul Michel, head of the federal patent court, implored a group of Chicago lawyers to voice their views in the congressional debate over patent reform, lamenting that California technology companies are driving the discussion.
Michel, who addressed the Richard Linn American Inn of Court, urged the lawyers to write members of Congress, such as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and David Kappos, the new chief of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, to express their opinions. The judge, who heads the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, said he hopes congressional hearings on the issue aren’t over.
