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Finally, a Bill To End Patent Trolling
First time accepted submitter jellie writes "According to Ars Technica, a new bill introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has received bipartisan support and has a real chance of passing. In a press call, lawyers from the CCIA, EFF, and Public Knowledge had universal praise for the bill, which is called the Innovation Act of 2013. The EFF has a short summary of the good and bad parts of an earlier draft of the bill. The bill will require patent holders who are filing a suit to identify the specific products and claims which are being infringed, require the loser in a suit to pay attorney's fees and costs, and force trolls to reveal anyone who has a 'financial interest' in the case, making them possibly liable for damages."
As long as there are patents on software and processes, the patent trolling will never really end.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law - Aleister Crowley
Trolling will end only when the patent system ends
NPEs selling their patents to practicing entities is exactly the behavior I'd want to encourage. It would at least draw a line between legit tech companies like ARM, which produce know-how in addition to patents, and companies like Lodsys, which exist solely to rest on laurels.
"We made a device with curved corners first, now you can't make one, na-na-na-na-na-na!"
Although patent trolls are bad, there are a lot bigger entities to fear with the current definitions of patentability.
I'd argue, the loser should be on the hook for the winner's expenses by default. Currently the court may make them responsible, but the winner typically needs to specifically ask for it — and it should be the opposite. In all cases: civil and criminal (if the accused is acquitted, the prosecuting office needs to cough up).
At least, this should apply (whether the subject is patent or not), when the losing the side is the one, that initiated the proceedings in the first place.
Accept that sometimes, there really are legitimate things to be decided by the courts, where both sides have compelling positions as to why they are right. Take a dispute over breach of contract, where a court is needed to determine a vague interpretation. Are you saying that the loser should pay the winner's cost there? Or take a civil rights or harassment case? Are you saying that if you bring such a suit and you lose, you should have to pay the employer's costs, too? That would pretty much eliminate all of those suits out of fear of the plaintiff going bankrupt, would it not.
No, it seems best, to let the court determine what is an equitable allocation of the costs based on the facts and nature of the case instead of mandating it by law. Doing that usually guarantees whoever has the most money to throw into lawyers while the case is going on will win and they will recoup those costs after the verdict is rendered. That hardly sounds like a real justice system.
I've never understood how you can file suit without explicitly listing this.
We've heard about far too many lawsuits which vaguely reference a "set of infringing patents", and I seem to recall that (despite asserting Linux infringes) Microsoft has never actually enumerated the patents Linux is supposed to violate.
Forcing them to disclose who has financial interest in it is a good idea, because one gets the impression a lot of these have a behind-the-scenes actor which doesn't get revealed.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.