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Congress Proposes Strategy For Fighting Patent Trolls

Posted by samzenpus on from the use-fire-or-acid-to-stop-the-regeneration dept.

phantomfive writes "Congressman Charles Schumer has written a piece decrying the evils of patent trolls. 'Because of the high cost of patent litigation—the average litigation defense costs a small or midsize company $1.75 million—it is often marginally cheaper for a defendant to pay up front to make the case go away. The average settlement for the same group of companies is $1.33 million....Patent trolls cost U.S. companies $29 billion in 2011 alone.' His solution? Make it easier for low quality patents to be re-examined and rejected by the patent office."

3 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Congressman? by mooingyak · · Score: 4, Informative

    Congressman, while generic, usually refers to members of the House. Schumer is a senator.

    --
    William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
  2. Re:WSJ Paywall? by mcgrew · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.techdirt.com/blog/innovation/articles/20130430/22152622896/chuck-schumer-to-introduce-patent-reform-bill-to-make-it-cheaper-to-fight-back-against-patent-trolls.shtml

    --
    Free Martian Whores!
  3. Re:Oh, So now only the big boys by Bearhouse · · Score: 4, Informative

    Agree it's hard to believe these days, but he actually, he seems to be one of the good guys.

    He previously co-sponsored legislation to help fight bullshit "business methods" patents,

    https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/another-bill-fix-patent-troll-problem-well-part-it

    And now simply wants to extend that to other areas. Text of proposed bill here.

    http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c113:S.866:

    Hat tip to EPP for article.