Patents Post Grant Blog

Since the enactment of the America Invents Act (AIA) in September of 2011, the “patent reform” embodied by the AIA has been slowly rolling out. In fact, the bulk of the truly significant changes to patent law are only months old, some still weeks away. These changes include the change over to the first inventor to file model on March 16th, and the kick off of the new post grant patent proceedings 6 months back. With so much recent change it would seem premature to consider further changes to patent law until the last round has had time to take effect…but politicians disagree.

Evidently at least one Congressman feels that the AIA does not go far enough to combat patent “troll” lawsuits. Congressman Defazio of Oregon is sponsoring yet another bill entitled “Saving High-Tech Innovators From Egregious Legal Disputes Act.” The bill, like its 2012 predecessor, proposes that the costs (including attorney fees) of certain types of patent lawsuits should be recoverable from the Patentee once the court finds the patent invalid, or not infringed. The 2012 version of the bill was limited to software type inventions and mandated payment for only frivolous suits.  Read the rest of this entry »