Meetings, optimism on patent reform, but no pact

By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - High tech companies and drug companies agree that U.S. patent reform will pass soon, but there is considerably less agreement on what it should look like.

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said that industries in his district were torn on the reform -- IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) was for it and Corning Inc (GLW.N: Quote, Profile, Research) against it.

"I support patent reform. Overall it's the right thing to do," he told a Reuters Regulation Summit. "I think there's a general feeling for a need for patent reform."

But Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said he was skeptical.

"It's going to be difficult to get a compromise," he told Reuters. "If it doesn't pass by March, I don't think you're going to have a patent bill this year, and you won't have a bill without compromise between Silicon Valley" and other industries.

Big high-tech companies began pushing for the bill several years ago and it passed the U.S. House of Representatives on September 7, 2007. Their goal is to cut the number of patent infringement lawsuits by reducing the damages paid.

The measure has stalled in the Senate because of opposition from drug firms like Eli Lilly & Co (LLY.N: Quote, Profile, Research), seed and herbicide company Monsanto Co (MON.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and smaller tech companies that fear lower damages would leave them vulnerable to infringers.

Tom DiLenge, general counsel for the Biotechnology Industry Organization, has called calculating damages for infringement "the toughest nut to crack."