In outlining his plan for economic growth and competitiveness in last month’s State of the Union address, President Obama called upon Congress to pass a patent litigation reform bill “that allows businesses to stay focused on innovation, not needless and costly litigation.” In doing so, he echoed the call for patent reform he made a year ago, when he characterized patent-troll litigation as an attempt to “extort some money” from actual inventors. These “patent trolls” leverage the high costs of litigation by amassing portfolios of patents and then threatening lawsuits based on vague and unsubstantiated allegations of infringement.
The Obama administration has been a key proponent of the legislative reform efforts now underway in Congress, and the report and set of recommendations issued by the White House are largely reflected in the legislation adopted by the House in December. The Innovation Act (H.R. 3309), which passed by an overwhelming margin, reflects a broad bipartisan consensus in Congress and in the intellectual property community, that patent-troll litigation is harmful to America’s innovators and impedes the very innovation that the patent system was designed to foster.
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