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
patent reform
Federal judge permits MPHJ’s suit challenging Vermont’s bad faith patent demand letter law to proceed
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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
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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
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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. …
U.S. House of Representatives reintroduces same patent reform bill that passed the House last go around
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Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chariman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) reintroduced the Innovation Act, a bill that attempts to address perceived patent litigation abuse. This current bill as introduced is identical to the bill that was passed by the House in December of 2013 by a vote of 325-91. Discussed below are some of the…
Senator Leahy pulls patent litigation reform bill
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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…
Senate postpones vote on patent reform bill until after recess
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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
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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…
Sen. Hatch Introduces the Patent Litigation Integrity Act (S. 1612)
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U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced today the Patent Litigation Integrity Act (S. 1612) “to address the growing threat of so-called ‘patent trolls'” who “purchase existing broad patents and then threaten businesses of infringing” them. Sen. Hatch issued a press release and one-page summary of the proposed legisltation, which provides two reform measures.
First, the…