Update on “Patent Troll” Legislation in the Wake of the 2014 ElectionsDecember 17, 2014

In December of 2013, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3309, the "Innovation Act," ostensibly to address the problem of abusive patent litigation, sometimes referred to as patent trolling. While H.R. 3309 passed with bipartisan support by an overwhelming margin of 325-91 votes, its companion bill failed to clear the Senate. Failure of the Senate bill is attributable to removal of controversial fee-shifting language from H.R. 3309 by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The fee-shifting provisions required losing parties in patent litigation to pay their opponent's legal fees—a situation critics argued would discourage the filing of meritorious patent suits by small businesses. After votes on the Senate counterpart bill stalled repeatedly, Senator Leahy withdrew the bill from the Senate Judiciary Committee's agenda last May.

In the wake of the 2014 midterm elections, Republicans have vowed to take up the legislation again early in 2015. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., recently stated that a new version of the Innovation Act, and two companion bills addressing trade secret protections, should be reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in January and pass with bipartisan majorities. The trade secrets legislation looks to create private civil trade secret misappropriation lawsuits under the federal Economic Espionage Act, which currently only allows prosecutors to bring criminal cases. On the Senate side, Senator Charles Grassley, R-Ia., is expected to replace Leahy as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee as the Republicans take over the Senate majority in January. Senator Grassley has signaled his intention to make patent reform a priority in the new Congress and believes patent reform can be accomplished early next year. In addition, the White House has signaled its support for legislation curbing abusive patent litigation, signaling that this may be an issue for which meaningful legislative action could be seen during the 2015 term.

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