Patent trolls may have to come out into the sunlight, finally. Last week, in what’s been dubbed “The Big Tent Letter,” fifty business organizations, as diverse as banking and publishing, asked Congress to enact legislation to deal with frivolous patent suits.

So what is Congress doing about patent trolls?

In 2011, the America Invents Act set up a temporary program, limited to financial patents, for the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board to review a patent’s legitimacy. This review is more favorable to businesses because a patent review can cost up to $100,000, where patent litigation can run upwards of $2 million, according to Ars Technica. R Street also noted that when cases initiated by patent trolls go to trial, the trolls lose 92% of the time. But, because of the high cost of litigation, many companies opt to settle, even if there is no basis for the claim.

The proposed STOP Act would not only make the review program permanent, but it would increase the scope to include other types of patents, rather than just financial patents. Since trolls often target many companies, the new proposed review process would allow the targeted companies to join “in mounting a collective attack on a bad patent,” Ars Technica reported.

The problems caused by patent trolls are many faceted, as the six different bills before Congress show us. However, we do know that Congress is ready to take action, and businesses across the country are hoping that come this fall, they will start taking steps to stop the extortion.

Related Resources:

  • Patent Trolls Go Shopping? Macy’s Sued for Search Engine (FindLaw’s Technologist Blog)
  • White House Announces Initiative to Fight Patent Trolls (FindLaw’s In House Blog)
  • Patent Trolls ’n Eye Rolls: Fed Circuit Protects Abstract Patent? (FindLaw’s U.S. Federal Circuit Blog)

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