Can't do anything about it now. House already passed this so called “Innovation Act” and at 325 - 91 it sounds like the bill has smooth sailing ahead. The text doesn't sound all that damaging but when I came across American Innovators for Patent Reform Strongly Condemns Passage of H.R. 3309 I thought I should go a little deeper.
Basically, the way it works now is that when an inventor is wronged by a big powerful corporation and they can raise the funds for their day in court, there is a chance of getting justice. The House of Representatives wants that to change so big business can say "Go ahead and sue but if you lose, not only do you get nothing, you will be forced to pay all of our costs to defend against you."
Apparently there were some claims in the House about “patent trolls” and they just had to fix that. According Dr. Alexander Poltorak, founder and President of AIPR, "corporate lobbyists crafted this bill with no input from inventors, universities, patent practitioners or anyone else in the innovation community." Sounds like yet another case of high-paid lobbyists pulling all of the strings and further protecting big business from the little guy.
Now these American Innovators for Patent Reform will take their fight to the Senate.
“Patents are the currency of today’s knowledge-based economy,” according to Dr. Poltorak. “Devaluing this currency, which will be the inevitable result if this bill becomes the law, will stifle innovation and cost American jobs.”
American Innovators for Patent Reform calls on every engineer, researcher and inventor, on every U.S. citizen who values American innovation, to write to his or her U.S. Senators, urging them to stop eroding our patent system and to pass a real patent reform bill that establishes full funding for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
But it gets worse. There are
plenty of related bills, part of a broader conservative agenda to redesign the scales of justice. One of those slippery slopes you don't notice until it's too late and you know which side this Supreme Court will take.
Update: From a more neutral party;
"The Innovation Act was introduced with the goal of furthering patent system reform, particularly with respect to patent-related litigation. We support increased transparency and oppose abusive litigation tactics.
“Unfortunately, provisions in the Act remain overly broad in important respects and, if ultimately enacted, would continue to result in too many unintended and unknowable consequences for innovators who rely on the patent system to fund and protect their inventions.
“Provisions in the legislation would erect unreasonable barriers to access justice for innovators, especially small start-ups that must be able to defend their businesses against patent infringement in a timely and cost-effective manner, and without needless and numerous procedural hurdles or other obstacles.
The list of
Endorsing Organizations pretty much says it all.
Contact your Senator about loser pays legislation.