Five Employees, Six Lawyers: The Problem with Software Patents
It’s the tech startup dream: coming up with a great idea, raising funding to make it a reality, gaining users, hiring a first, second, and third employee. Hiring just as many lawyers. When a startup...
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Senator Mike Lee’s Speech at CCIA’s Patent Progress Event Today
Below is the transcript of Senator Mike Lee’s speech at our event today, How Patent Trolls Harm Innovation. I’m grateful for the opportunity to say a few words about patents and innovation. In...
View ArticlePatent Progress Interview Series: Julie Samuels, EFF
A few weeks ago we interviewed Julie Samuels, the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), about software patents and patent trolls. Our conversation...
View ArticlePatent Fixes Pick up Steam in Congress
(Cross post on DisCo) What a difference a year makes in Congress. Last year, Reps. DeFazio (D-OR) and Chaffetz (R-UT) introduced the Saving High-tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHIELD)...
View ArticleMassive Gathering Calls for Solving our Patent Troll Problem
The groundswell of support for solving the problems created by patent assertion entities continues to grow. Today, I had the pleasure of attending a standing-room only gathering of organizations and...
View ArticleBusiness and Consumer Groups Come Out in Support of Obama’s Patent Proposals
As it was widely reported yesterday, including here on Patent Progress, President Obama came out with a three pronged plan for stamping down on patent trolls. Part one was a study outlining their...
View ArticleTalking Points Mau-Mau: Sununu Objects to Reform on Patent Trolls
Former Sen. John E. Sununu has an op-ed in the Boston Globe today that perfectly encapsulates the talking points of those who oppose efforts to clamp down on patent trolls. First is the “Patents Are a...
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How Covered Business Method Review Can Help Beat Back the Trolls
The term “Covered Business Method” seems a bit dry, but if you’re interested in making life tougher for patent trolls you’ll get acquainted with it. Last week, I focused on one of the Obama...
View ArticleTroll Economics: The White House Weighs In
Last week, the White House released its agenda of legislative priorities and executive actions on high-tech patent issues. It was accompanied by a report, Patent Assertion and U.S. Innovation, that...
View ArticleConcern Trolls “Worry” About Covered Business Method Review
As expected, once some ideas to deal with patent trolls were proposed by the President, the concern trolls came out in force to express “concern” about “uncertainty” and a possible, unexplained,...
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Momentum Increases for Expanding Covered Business Method Review
I’ve told you before why any attempt to deal with patent trolls has to include an expansion of the Covered Business Method (CBM) review program. (Here, here and here.) Short version: This expansion...
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New Study by PatentFreedom Shows We Need Expanded CBM Review
If there were ever any doubt that expanding the Covered Business Method review program would have a major impact on the patent troll problem, a newly released study from PatentFreedom should put those...
View ArticleDear Intellectual Ventures: Sorry If Your Lobbyist Showed Signs of Wear
Last night, I participated in a panel discussion sponsored by the App Developers Alliance. Russ Merbeth of Intellectual Ventures was one of the panelists, and I did manage to have a little fun with...
View ArticlePatent Reform Moves Forward With New Goodlatte Discussion Draft
On Monday, Rep. Goodlatte (R-VA) released a new discussion draft of a patent reform bill. We’ve been looking through it, and overall this is a strong draft. The draft has litigation reforms that...
View ArticlePatent Trolls Offend Both Ends of the Political Spectrum
The Progressive Policy Institute is out with a policy brief entitled, “Stumping Patent Trolls On The Bridge To Innovation.” The brief “discusses the rich history of progressives in leading efforts to...
View ArticleHouse Judiciary Committee Passes Bipartisan Patent Reform Targeting Trolls
Yesterday, in a strong bipartisan vote (33-5), the House Judiciary Committee approved the Innovation Act. There’s more work to do, but this is a big victory. Nearly every major reform that’s been...
View ArticleBig Week for Patent Reform – Innovation Act Heads to the Floor
It looks like the Innovation Act (which was reported from the House Judiciary Committee a couple of weeks ago) will get a vote on the floor of the House this week. EFF and a number of other groups...
View ArticleBefore I Kill You, Mr. Bond[ing Requirement]
One big reason that being a patent troll is so profitable is that there isn’t a lot of downside risk for the troll. You just set up a holding company with no assets other than the patents you’re using...
View ArticleSenator Schumer Explains It All on Covered Business Method Review
At today’s Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, “Protecting Small Businesses and Promoting Innovation by Limiting Patent Troll Abuse,” Senator Schumer explained why we need to make the Covered Business...
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Dear IV: You’re Not a “Better” Kind of Patent Troll
Without much fanfare, Intellectual Ventures has put up a searchable public list of over 30,000 of its patents. Was it something I said? Seriously, this is a refreshing change for IV, which has, up...
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