Johnson & Johnson, Raytheon, Merck and 3M (Photos: Shutterstock.com)

A long list of biotech and pharmaceutical companies, industrials, universities and individual inventors have written to House and Senate Judiciary committee leaders, asking them to support the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's efforts to trim back administrative patent validity challenges in deference to rocket docket district court litigation.

Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck & Co., 3M Co., and Raytheon Technologies signed the Oct. 26 letter, along with the Association of University Technology Managers, the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of America, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and 235 individual inventors.