In furtherance of Congress’ mounting war on patent trolls (or patent assertion entities, as some prefer to be called), Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) introduced H.R. 2639 in the House on Wednesday. The Patent Litigation and Innovation Act of 2013 calls for heightened pleading requirements for patent infringement actions in order to protect downstream users of technology from abusive and costly patent litigation. The Patent Litigation and Innovation Act of 2013 represents the sixth legislative proposal introduced to date this year to combat the “abusive litigation brought on by patent trolls.” As recent lawsuits have exemplified, patent trolls have increasingly sought out end users of technology in their pursuit to obtain licensing fees. These patent trolls may send out demand letters to hundreds of thousands of end users threatening to sue for patent infringement if the end user does not pay up for using a product in the intended manner that they bought off the shelf.

Acccording to Congressman Farenthold, “This legislation modernizes our patent litigation system to address the concerns facing end users across America. Through heightened pleading requirements, this bill adds transparency and legitimacy to the thousands of cease and desist letters sent out by patent trolls.”

“Additionally, the Patent Litigation and Innovation Act of 2013 will provide a reliable method for joining manufacturers and customers to the appropriate litigation. The current patent system amounts to legalized extortion for many companies who frequently decide to settle in order to continue investing in their business, rather than pursue potentially frivolous litigation.”

Source: http://farenthold.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1509&Itemid=100059

For more information about patent litigation, visit our Patent Infringement Defense service page.

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