Patent Troll Bill in US Senate Is Put on Hold
The Senate patent reform bill had popular support, particularly from retail and technology companies
(firmenpresse) - On July 30, 2014, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) announced that a patent reform bill was being removed from the committee's agenda after lawmakers were unable to reach agreement on the bill's provisions. The Patent Transparency and Improvements Act sought to protect companies against "patent trolls," also known are companies that gather patents, threaten infringement lawsuits and then offer to settle for less than the cost of defending the suit.
"Because there is not sufficient support behind any comprehensive deal, I am taking the patent bill off the Senate Judiciary Committee agenda," Senator Leahy said.
*Among its provisions, the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act sought to:
*limit the scope of preliminary discovery
*require more detailed information regarding patent ownership
*permit a manufacturer to defend a customer accused of infringement
*award attorney fees to defendants if a judge rules that there was no reasonable basis for a patent infringement lawsuit
The bill was killed due to the failure to reach a compromise on the provision requiring a patent plaintiff to post a bond to cover the potential payment of the opposing side’s legal fees. Many opponents felt this would provision would hurt legitimate inventors, such as universities, small businesses, and medical and LPO.
The Senate patent reform bill had popular support, particularly from retail and technology companies, which are the most frequent targets of patent infringement lawsuits. Even tech giants such as Cisco, Google, Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft were the main supporters of the bill and urged Senators to act on the bill.
Additionally, 42 state and territorial attorneys general supported it. For these groups, the development came as a major setback. In December 2013, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a reform bill with broad bipartisan support, and Legal Process Outsourcing from both parties had worked out what they felt was an acceptable proposal.
Despite this major setback, Senator Leahy vowed to bring the bill up again if "stakeholders are able to reach a more targeted agreement that focuses on the problem of patent trolls." Critics of the bill said they remain open to a compromise that will tackle the patent troll issue without hurting legitimate inventors.
See our May 1, 2014 blog post for more information about pending US patent troll legislation.
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The Global Outsourcing Association of Lawyers (GOAL) is the world’s first membership-based, non-political international organization for the legal outsourcing industry. Founded and mentored by global legal and outsourcing experts, GOAL’s mission is to promote the welfare, interests, education, and professional development of all parties involved in today’s legal process outsourcing (LPO) industry.
Datum: 30.07.2014 - 08:23 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 1300975
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