Blog 8: Innovation Act- Going Against Patent Trolls

Hey all!

Now that I talked about what patent trolls are in my previous posts,
let's talk about the ways to prevent these abusing litigation tactics. 

In an effort to stop patent trolls happen so often, Innovation Act, was first brought out by Representative Bob Goodlatte (R-Va) in October 2013. According to Wikipedia, "it was a bill that would have changed the rules and regulations surrounding patent infringement lawsuits in an attempt to reduct patent lawsuits, but was never passed by the Senate." Yet, it was a big step for patent reformers. Had it been passed, the bill would have added accuracy to patent litigation and would have required patent holders to show exactly who would be profiting if a the lawsuit was brought. Furthermore, it would have allowed lawsuits to be settled in certain circumstances and required fee shifting to the prevailing party in most patent cases. Representatives would have also tackled about taking out an old, rarely used provision in patent law regarding patent applicants who can't get their patent from the Patent Office but would sue for those patents. 

Most significantly, Representatives would have covered who truly owns patents involving in litigation and whether there are any parties who are involving in financial interest in the lawsuit. I personally think that had the Senate approved the bill, it would have been a huge success on the patent filed and other smaller companies who were previously unable to defend themselves against larger companies.