A new bill introduced in the House of Representatives attempts to deter frivolous patent litigation by forcing unsuccessful patent plaintiffs to cover defendants' legal costs. Introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and co-sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), the Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHIELD) Act is limited to patents related to computer hardware and software.
"Patent trolls don't create new technology and they don't create American jobs," DeFazio said in a news release. "They pad their pockets by buying patents on products they didn't create and then suing the innovators who did the hard work and created the product."
graeme_p
8:40 am on Aug 4, 2012 (gmt 0)
An improvement, but:
1) Why limited to IT? 2) If it only shifts fees where there is a low change of the plaintiff winning, it does not deal with submarine patents where the underlying patent is strong.
ZydoSEO
2:15 pm on Aug 4, 2012 (gmt 0)
I agree they shouldn't limit it to only IT. However, it is a start.
Having been deposed for several such patent litigation cases, I can say this doesn't really address one of the real issues with patents... the fact that those approving patents for the USPTO are SEVERELY underqualified to make the approval/disapprove decision and are overworked.
Most of those bringing the frivolous lawsuits have very vague patents that should never even have been awarded in the first place.
r4bet
2:20 pm on Aug 4, 2012 (gmt 0)
good job
most of trolls todays are related to softwares and hardware patents
4serendipity
2:43 pm on Aug 7, 2012 (gmt 0)
Most of those bringing the frivolous lawsuits have very vague patents that should never even have been awarded in the first place.
I agree. This bill seems like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound. Still, it's better than nothing. Maybe the trolls should pay fines that go directly to the patent office to improve staffing.
Symbios
3:54 pm on Aug 7, 2012 (gmt 0)
It will be a step in the right direction if this gets through, how long do these bills usually take to get through?
