US patent reform back on the table

A US law maker re-introduced a bill aimed at reforming the US patent system to the House of Representatives yesterday (February 5), reviving a similar bid that broke down last year.

The Innovation Act was re-introduced by Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and is co-sponsored by 18 people from both the Democrat and Republican parties.

In December 2013 the House of Representatives passed the bill, but last year it was withdrawn from the Senate before being voted on.

It was withdrawn because people raised concerns that it went beyond the scope of addressing ‘patent trolls’—its original aim.

But Goodlatte has re-submitted a similar version of the bill because, reportedly, more people who were elected to Congress in the US’s mid-term elections in November are likely to support it than before.

The bill contains proposals to heighten the pleading requirements of a patent owner when making an infringement claim.

If passed, the bill would require patent owners to disclose in a letter the details of the patent that was allegedly infringed and how it was infringed.

The bill said: “Demand letters sent should, at the least, include basic information about the patent in question, what is being infringed, and how it is being infringed. Any actions or litigation that stems from these types of purposely evasive demand letters should be considered a fraudulent or deceptive practice.”

In addition, a court would be able to halt the sending of a discovery letter—a request from one party to another to obtain information and documents relevant to the case—while it is assessing the patent’s validity.

Under the bill, legal costs would be shifted in certain cases, meaning a claimant that loses a case would have to pay the defendant’s fees. At the moment, fees are shifted only in exceptional cases.

Re-introducing the bill, Goodlatte said: “With our current patent laws being abused in ways that are threatening the survival of American innovation, the Congress must act to curb abusive patent litigation. The bi-partisan Innovation Act contains common sense reforms and makes the patent litigation process more transparent.”