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New Bill Would Require Patent Trolls To Pay Defendants' Attorneys

Posted by Soulskill on from the system-and-method-for-being-a-leech dept.

Zordak writes "According to Law 360, H.R. 845, the 'Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes' (SHIELD) Act of 2013 would require non-practicing entities that lose in patent litigation to pay the full legal costs of accused infringers. The new bill (PDF) would define a 'non-practicing entity' as a plaintiff that is neither the original inventor or assignee of a patent, and that has not made its own 'substantial investment in exploiting the patent.' The bill is designed to particularly have a chilling effect on 'shotgun' litigation tactics by NPEs, in which they sue numerous defendants on a patent with only a vague case for infringement. Notably, once a party is deemed to be an NPE early in the litigation, they will be required to post a bond to cover the defendants' litigation costs before going forward."

4 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sudden outbreak of common sense?

    1. Re:Hmm by tnk1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No, he means a legitimate small player *making use of the system as it was intended under the concept of equal protection under the law*. Having money is not supposed to be a prerequisite for obtaining justice in the US, at least in theory, of course.

      I should be able to sue Apple or Samsung or some other multinational and if my case is correct and proven under the law, I not only deserve to win, I am supposed to win.

      The fact that patent trolls can weasel into the space left for the small guy to have his voice heard doesn't mean that that method becomes expendable. It means we need a solution that filters patent trolls out better.

      I agree that trolls need to be stopped. My own organization have been extorted by them. They're a parasitic entity made possible by government rules that would not exist without a broken patent system. However, fix the patent system, don't simply carpet bomb any requests from people who don't have money.

  2. Weird sensation... by Joce640k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why am I having a hard time believing this is real and has a hope of being passed into law?

    Am I really so cynical/jaded that a good-sounding idea from government and/or lawmakers just feels like some sort of a trap? It say something about how the world's been run lately.

    --
    No sig today...
  3. Re:just another club to protect large corporations by Stiletto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The "lone inventor around the corner" using his patent to fight the big corporations is kind of a myth nowadays. Patents are used to stifle innovation and protect entrenched businesses, not to prevent corporations from stealing the little guy's ideas. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of patent-holders are corporations.