14 DAY TRIAL // A bill created to fight off patent trolls has cleared the House of Representatives with an overwhelming vote of 325 to 91.
Despite opposition coming from organizations that regularly push for lawsuits based on various obscure patents, the lobbying efforts have clearly not paid off since only 91 congress members stood up for them.
Considering the reform even got support from the White House and Google, it’s not surprising that the bill passed without a hitch. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said in an editorial earlier this week that an end must be put to the abuse of the patent system, while the necessary changes needed to be made to ensure that it serves its constitutional purpose, which is to protect innovators and their inventions.
“They don’t actually produce anything themselves. They’re just trying to essentially leverage and hijack someone else’s idea to see if they can extort some money out of them,” said Barack Obama earlier this year.
The Innovation Act seeks to put a stop to the patent trolls that make a living from intellectual property lawsuits, without actually producing anything themselves.
The legislation seeks to add some transparency since trolls are known to hide behind shell corporations. Also, such companies should be penalized when losing trials since they usually have very little to lose. Furthermore, users should also get some protection when the legislation passes all the hurdles since some professional patent trolls have gone as far as claiming ownership over patents for common things, such as WiFi.
From here on out, the bill will head for the Senate, but clues indicate that it will likely pass before the year is through.
The Innovation Act isn’t supported by everyone and most of them claim that the bill will eventually damage the entire patent system, weakening it and making everyone more vulnerable, not just the so-called trolls.