This section frequently sees discussion of bills, cases and oddities concerning all sorts of intellectual property law. Other than speculating on what a given patent might mean for the end result we tend not to have much positive news when it comes to patents. Today this is a different for not only has the US house of reps passed a bill but it also concerns patents that might be considered a positive step, for reference the US patent system is not well regarded by most of the rest of the world (the concepts of software patenting and a lot of the biological side of things as well as the apparent laxness of the USPTO when it comes to the basics of patents). One crash course on US patents here if you want one.
Anyway patent trolling is a term for when various companies, ones that never invented anything and exist solely to do this sort of thing, will buy up random patents and then seek to extract money from people. As defending yourself in court is a considerably costly activity many that find themselves victims of this practice will instead settle (at not inconsiderable cost). As the worlds games, internet and small electronics products have a rising number of small companies that see to somewhat niche products this can be quite troublesome.
Once it is enacted it will apply to any patents issued or actions filed after that date, there may be some things applied retroactively though.
You can read the bill here (warning PDF).
Sources
The Register
Businesswire
Anyway patent trolling is a term for when various companies, ones that never invented anything and exist solely to do this sort of thing, will buy up random patents and then seek to extract money from people. As defending yourself in court is a considerably costly activity many that find themselves victims of this practice will instead settle (at not inconsiderable cost). As the worlds games, internet and small electronics products have a rising number of small companies that see to somewhat niche products this can be quite troublesome.
Once it is enacted it will apply to any patents issued or actions filed after that date, there may be some things applied retroactively though.
You can read the bill here (warning PDF).
The Register said:[the bill]would ban patent trolls from suing end-users, rather than the manufacturer of a technology, for patent infringement, and would also require a much higher burden of proof in judgments.
In addition, patent holders would have to identify themselves directly in a case, rather than working through shell companies, and if a lawsuit fails they would have to pay the defendant's costs. Defendants would also have to incur fewer costs up front during the discovery phase of any trial.
Sources
The Register
Businesswire