Recently the House Judiciary Committee voted 24-8 to approve a revised version of the Innovation Act. As we previously discussed, the Innovation Act was re-introduced in the House earlier this year in the same form approved by the entire House at the end of 2013. The Judiciary Committee recently met to mark-up and
Legislation
Federal judge permits MPHJ’s suit challenging Vermont’s bad faith patent demand letter law to proceed
We previously discussed the Vermont attorney general’s enforcement action against MPHJ Technology Investments, LLC, a non-practicing entity that has recently been the subject of regulatory scrutiny. The attorney general’s complaint, filed in Vermont state court in early May of 2013, alleges that MPHJ’s patent assertion conduct directed toward Vermonters violates the state’s Consumer Protection…
Senate Judiciary Committee approves PATENT Act
Yesterday, we reported on the manager’s amendments to the Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship Act, or “PATENT Act,” a bi-partisan patent reform bill introduced by Senator Leahy and several other Senators. After two additional amendments by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee during yesterday’s mark-up session, the committee approved the bill by a vote of …
Revised version of Senate patent reform bill released
On Tuesday, a proposed Manager’s Amendment was released for the Senate’s pending PATENT Act bill. Following is a recap of the recent wave of patent legislation proposals this year.
Innovation Act. Since 2013, the House and the Senate have considered various forms of patent reform legislation that attempt to address perceived patent litigation abuse. …
“Limitations”, “elements” and bears, oh my!
Patent claims have “limitations.” Accused infringing products have “elements.” A patent owner may argue that patent claim “limitations” read onto “elements” of an accused infringing product. The Federal Circuit, sitting en banc, resolved this divisive issue fifteen years ago: “It is preferable to use the term ‘limitation’ when referring to claim language and the term…
Senator Leahy pulls patent litigation reform bill
As we previously reported, the Senate Judiciary Committee has postponed a vote on proposed patent litigation reform legislation several times. Now, the Senate is tabling the issue altogether due to an apparent lack of bi-partisan support for the provisions in the bill. On Wednesday, Senator Leahy, the bill’s sponsor, announced that “there has…
Patent Case Alert: Supreme Court adopts more flexible, deferential test for attorney fee shifting in patent cases (Octane Fitness and Highmark)
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two opinions (Octane Fitness and Highmark) that create a more flexible, deferential standard for determining what constitutes an “exceptional” patent case in which a district court has discretion to award reasonable attorney’s fees to the prevailing party. The Court rejected the Federal Circuit’s rigid test that required…
Senate postpones vote on patent reform bill until after recess
The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to mark-up and vote on the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act of 2013 last Thursday but again postponed the vote until after the Senate recess. The mark-up and vote have been postponed several times before. As we discussed in a prior post, the bill, if passed would require…
Update on patent litigation reform legislation
Hopefully the current patent reform effort to address perceived patent litigation abuse problems will result in carefully targeted tweaks to–without harming–our otherwise thriving U.S. patent system, the greatest system for innovation that the world has ever known (see our Patent Forest post). The Senate is currently considering this balance. The Senate Judiciary Committee was…
Senate Judiciary Committee to Debate Bipartisan Patent Reform Legislation
As we discussed in a prior post, the U.S. Senate is currently debating a patent reform bill (“the Innovation Act”) passed by the House of Representatives late last year directed to perceived patent litigation abuse by certain patent assertion entities (what some characterize as “patent trolls”). The Senate is also debating a competing bill…