This morning, the House of Representatives passed the Innovation Act (also known as the Goodlatte bill) by a vote of 325-91.  A number of amendments that would have gutted or watered down the bill were defeated.

Key provisions of the Innovation Act, as passed, include:

  • Heightened pleading requirements:  A complaint must identify the asserted claims

With the Goodlatte bill circulating in Congress (more on that soon), state governments taking up the fights against the trolls and a generally renewed concern with the scope and cost — economic and otherwise — of patent litigation, keeping up with patent litigation news has become like trying to sip from a fire hose.  In

Chicago-based Intellectual Property Exchange (“IPXI”) plans to offer its first patent family for purchase via what IPXI calls unit license rights.  Any entity will be able to purchase unit license rights that allow it to use the patent technologies — in this case, a portfolio of approximately 600 patents — a set number of times. 

Santa Clara Law Professor Colleen Chien recently wrote an interesting article on Patently-O discussing some key patent troll statistics in light of President Obama’s troll comments and the new SHIELD Act.  Here are some of the key takeaways for retailers:

  • In 2012, trolls filed 62% of patent litigations 2,921 of 4,701 suits.
  • Retailers are

The SHIELD Act — Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes — is back.  The SHIELD Act was originally introduced in the last Congress and would have awarded costs, including reasonable attorney’s fees, to a prevailing defendant when, upon completion of the case, a Court held that the patentholder’s case had not had a reasonable

With a hat tip to Dennis Crouch at Patently-O, President Obama recently addressed the patent troll “problem” as part of a Google Fireside Hangout.  The patent troll question and the President’s answer start shortly after the 16:00 mark of the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kp_zigxMS-Y

President Obama’s answer is straightforward and focused upon addressing the problem.  

PWC’s most recent patents litigation study – “A Look Behind the Rising Numbers in US Patent Litigation: Macro Trends, Causes, and Implementations” – tells a story that every litigator knows, patent litigation is on the rise.  And the America Invents Act (“AIA”) has done little about the problem.  Here are some key takeaways from

Professor Colleen Chien from Santa Clara Law spoke at the December 10 DOJ/FTC troll conference.  As a follow up to the conference, she offered IAM Magazine her thoughts attempting to put our current troll situation, which she acknowledges is “disruptive” for business, with two other historical periods of increased troll activity involving railroads and sewing