US Senate Bill S.2198, the PACE-Education Act, includes an interesting clause:

``It is the sense of the Senate that Congress should implement comprehensive patent reform that encourages research uses of patented inventions by shielding researchers from infringement liability.''

URL

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:S.2198:

Wouldn't that mean that any use of any patented invention, as long as the use is research-oriented, would be free from restrictions placed on it by the patent holder?

Via Slashdot.