Chuck Schumer To Introduce Patent Reform Bill To Make It Cheaper To Fight Back Against Patent Trolls

from the a-step-forward dept

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Back during the fight for the America Invents Act -- the big patent reform effort from a couple years ago -- Senator Chuck Schumer was able to add in an amendment that made it easier to get the USPTO to review business method patents. As we noted at the time, this amendment also effectively killed off some specific financial patents. This was a good step, though we wondered why it was limited just to business method patents. The general answer that we got back from those involved in the process was that this would be a "test bed." That test bed is now known as Section 18 of the America Invents Act, which makes it easier for those sued to get the patent reviewed by the USPTO, and also makes it more likely that a court will put a lawsuit on hold while the USPTO reviews the patent. Given how often re-exams by the USPTO lead to claims being rejected, this process can certainly help dump some really bad patents before a defendant has to go through an incredibly pricey court case (and appeals and such).It's now being reported that Schumer is set to introduce a new bill that will expand Section 18 to cover technology patents, rather than just limiting it to business method patents (the more cynical among you will note the rapid growth of New York's tech sector as a reason for this expansion). This is definitely a big step in the right direction. If something like this wascombined with the SHIELD Act , which shifts fees to the trolls for bogus patent lawsuits, it would really help limit some of the most egregious activities of trolls.That said, this is only one step. There are some limitations and oddities within Section 18 which may have been necessary to get it into law, but which also limit the overall effectiveness of the bill against trolls. While we're extremely encouraged that Congress and other parts of the federal government appear to finally be taking the issue of patent trolling seriously, there is still much more to be done. Thankfully, there are indications from a bunch of Senators and Representatives that they know this is a problem and they intend to do something to fix it. Kudos to Senator Schumer for jumping in with this fix, and we look forward to more efforts to fix our broken patent system and to limit innovation-hindering patent trolling.

Filed Under: chuck schumer, patent reform