U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), chairman of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, said Wednesday he is pleased a bipartisan patent reform bill
to eliminate the problem of patent trolls was introduced last week.
“Congress has talked about addressing the problem of patent trolls since 2005, when Senator (Patrick) Leahy (D-VT) and I first began work on what is now the America Invents Act,” Hatch said. “I’m pleased that after a decade of serious policy discussions there is now strong bipartisan support for legislation to combat abusive patent lawsuits and safeguard American innovation.”
The pending legislation has a growing list of supporters, many of whom are among the heavy hitters in the realm of corporate intellectual property, patent and litigation.
“If you choose to invest in patent trolls, you should be accountable for their actions,” Adobe Vice-President of IP and Litigation Dana Rao said. “Senator Hatch’s leadership has been instrumental in crafting a balanced but effective provision to ensure that shifted fees can actually be recovered, either from the plaintiff engaging in the misconduct, or, if a judgment-proof shell company, then from the investors funding their business model. We thank Senator Hatch and look forward to working with him and other members of Congress to ensure this important provision is enacted into law.”
In addition to streamlining the more basic aspects of patent reform, the pending legislation would include a recovery of fees provision, ensuring that anyone who brings patent litigation of an abusive nature will be held accountable for their actions.
“BIO appreciates the leadership of Senator Hatch in building greater consensus on a more reasonable and targeted mechanism for addressing recovery of fees in frivolous patent cases, and BIO is pleased that the co-sponsors of the PATENT Act adopted this approach,” BIO President & CEO Jim Greenwood said.
Senator Hatch has led efforts for a recovery of fees provision for several years.
“Effective patent troll legislation must provide a mechanism to ensure that defendants can recover fees even against judgment-proof shell companies,” Hatch said. “With the addition of a strong fee recovery provision that I have long championed, the Patent Act now does just that. Having worked closely with stakeholders and innovators of all sizes and across many sectors, I am confident this bill can be enacted into law and finally end the plague of patent trolls on our economy.”