One Year Since The Innovation Act, And Still No Patent Reform

from the time-to-push-harder dept

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One year ago this week, the House overwhelmingly passed bipartisan patent reform legislation — the Innovation Act — to stop patent trolls from suing innovators, collecting billions, costing jobs and undermining economic growth. The Senate failed to act, but there’s no reason this bipartisan bill should not become law.

Contact your U.S. Senator and ask them to pass patent litigation reform! »

What is a patent troll? Think of a school bully.

Much like a kid handing over his lunch money to a bully, patent trolls are extortionists who sue small companies for money. Patent trolls do not create jobs or products, but instead get rich by suing or threatening litigation to extract licensing fees from businesses and tech entrepreneurs.

In 2011 the founder of TMSOFT, Todd Moore became acquainted with patent trolls when Lodsys, a patent holding company aka patent troll, sued Moore over the "White Noise” mobile app he developed. The patent troll letter said Moore was in violation of 4 of their patents. Lodsys doesn’t even produce apps or anything for that matter.

Small business owners like Moore aren’t the only victims of patent trolls. Patent extortionist Lodsys went ahead and also sued Walt Disney Company over apps.

Big or small, no one is safe from patent trolls. UNLESS Congress takes action and changes our laws. Patent trolls bleed $80 billion a year from the U.S. economy, that’s 1.5 billion a week!

The House has taken action, now it is up to the Senate.

The Innovation Movement, sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association, unites those who believe innovation is critical to American global leadership and economic growth. The Innovation Movement uses grassroots advocacy tools to support smart public policies, like patent litigation reform, that foster startups and innovation. To learn more about the Innovation Movement’s work fighting patent trolls, visit trollticker.com, follow on Twitter @imovement and like Innovation Movement on Facebook.

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Filed Under: innovation act, patent reform, patents, sponsored post