The most vigorous attempt yet to stop patent trolls by changing the law has been stopped cold in the US Senate. The language used by Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) suggests that negotiations are in a state of gridlock, with the bill unlikely to return this year.

After nearly a year of work, there's "no agreement on how to combat the scourge of patent trolls" without also harming other patent holders and universities, wrote Leahy. If stakeholders are able to get "a more focused agreement," Leahy said he'll bring it immediately to the committee's attention.

It's hard to see that happening unless something changes—and soon. The Senate has about two months of work time left until the August break, and when it comes back in September, campaign season will be in full swing. The Senate has no more sessions after October 3.

The US House of Representatives passed an unprecedented anti-patent-troll bill called the Innovation Act back in December. It would have provided for heightened pleading and disclosure requirements, more fee-shifting in patent cases, and mandatory stays when customers are sued for using technology they purchased from others.

President Barack Obama has said he'll support patent reform. He mentioned it in his State of the Union speech, and he made certain reforms at the executive level.

Early this morning, several groups opposing the bill denounced those provisions, promising they would be united in their opposition to any bill that included them. "Many of the provisions would have the effect of treating every patent holder as a patent troll," read a letter sent out by the Innovation Alliance, which was signed by the American Association of Universities and the biotechnology trade group BIO.

In some ways, it looks like essentially the same industries that killed earlier, more modest patent reform efforts back in 2007. Tech groups were pushing reform then, with pharmaceutical companies, universities, and ultimately manufacturers on the other side.

This year, the forces supporting reform were broader, with retailers, grocers, and restaurants taking up the cause, as patent trolls increasingly swamped more "Main Street" businesses.

Leahy's full statement reads:

We have been working for almost a year with countless stakeholders on legislation to address the problem of patent trolls who are misusing the patent system. This is a real problem facing businesses in Vermont and across the country. Unfortunately, there has been no agreement on how to combat the scourge of patent trolls on our economy without burdening the companies and universities who rely on the patent system every day to protect their inventions. We have heard repeated concerns that the House-passed bill went beyond the scope of addressing patent trolls, and would have severe unintended consequences on legitimate patent holders who employ thousands of Americans. I have said all along that we needed broad bipartisan support to get a bill through the Senate. Regrettably, competing companies on both sides of this issue refused to come to agreement on how to achieve that goal. Because there is not sufficient support behind any comprehensive deal, I am taking the patent bill off the Senate Judiciary Committee agenda. If the stakeholders are able to reach a more targeted agreement that focuses on the problem of patent trolls, there will be a path for passage this year and I will bring it immediately to the Committee. We can all agree that patent trolls abuse the current patent system. I hope we are able to return to this issue this year.

For the tech and retail companies that are more plagued by patent trolls than ever before, this will be a disappointing development.

"Personally, I'm stunned by Chairman Leahy's decision to put off dealing with the patent troll problem," said Matt Levy, patent counsel for the Computer and Communications Industry Association, in an e-mail to Ars. "Thousands of hours went into this bill, the House passed its own version by a strong bipartisan majority, and we've been willing to compromise to address legitimate concerns. This isn't over, because businesses all over the country, including Chairman Leahy's home state of Vermont, are continuing to hand over billions of dollars a week to patent trolls. But this was not a good day."

FindTheBest CEO Kevin O'Connor, whose company was heavily involved in reform efforts after it tangled with a troll wielding a "matchmaking" patent, wrote, "It's sad to think that our elected representatives give up on solving a problem this easily. Everyone admits that patent trolls are a problem, but nobody is willing to take action to fix it. Every day that the US government delays finding a solution is another free pass for these trolls to destroy small businesses and abuse the patent system. The Senate had a chance to take action, instead they just kicked the can down the road... again."

We'll have more analysis on why the push for this patent bill fell apart in an upcoming post.