Trial lawyers order Harry Reid to scotch patent reform

In an article in WSJ today entitled Even Silicon Valley Tilts Republican, Gordon Crovitz writes:

Plaintiff lawyers joke that their focus has gone from “PI to IP”: Now that personal-injury litigation has been reformed in many states, they’re turning to intellectual-property lawsuits such as patent infringement. ... In May the Senate Judiciary Committee was about to send patent reform for a vote by the full Senate when Chairman Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) shocked Silicon Valley lobbyists by declaring there would be no vote. “I have said all along that we needed broad bipartisan support to get the bill through the Senate,” Sen. Leahy said. “Regrettably, competing companies on both sides of this issue refused to come to agreement on how to achieve that goal.” ... Over the summer, Mr. Leahy admitted that his earlier explanation was false: There was no failure among technology companies to agree on reform. Instead, Mr. Reid had instructed Mr. Leahy to drop patent reform on the orders of trial lawyers.

As a result of the failure of a Democratic Senate to pass patent reform, writes Crovitz, Silicon Valley companies are beginning to transfer their allegiance to Republicans:

Washington is a disaster zone for innovation, especially for the software firms that make up the growing parts of the U.S. economy. There has been no progress in meeting Silicon Valley’s desperate needs, including patent reform and open immigration for skilled workers. As a result, technology companies long associated with liberal causes are switching loyalties. In 2010 Democratic candidates for national office got 55% of contributions from tech-company political-action committees. This year Republicans have received 52%. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, companies with PACs giving more to Republicans than to Democrats include Google, Facebook and Amazon.

I have written elsewhere (for example, here) about how the push by some elements of the Democratic Party for racial and gender quotas is inconsistent with the meritocratic philosophy of Silicon Valley. Now high tech companies are realizing that their interests are also inconsistent with another major member of the Democratic coalition, namely, trial lawyers.