Oct 16, 2014, 03:34 am
I'd missed this one, but Cory Doctorow over at BoingBoing points our attention to the fact that, last month, the Judicial Conference voted to make a little-noticed change in patent lawsuits that should serve to make life more difficult for patent trolls. The details here are more complex than necessary, but the short version is that, under current rules, to file a patent infringement case, the initial complaint can be almost entirely bare bones: basically naming the plaintiff, defendant, patent and saying there's infringement, but providing no real details on the infringement. That aids patent trolls, who often will file questionable lawsuits without even telling the defendant where the infringement occurs -- leading defendants to have to go into the case a bit blind, and making it more appealing to just settle.
A key part of the patent reform proposal that everyone thought was going to happen earlier this year was to change those rules to require the patent holder to have to actually explain where the infringement occurred -- basically inching up the bar to filing a patent lawsuit. Then the trial lawyers came in and killed patent reform dead with a call to Senator Harry Reid. However, it looks like the courts may want to take this matter into their own hands. The Judicial Conference sets the rules by which the courts work under, and it appears that it's basically decided to implement this change in rules (bringing patent lawsuits more in line with most regular lawsuits) anyway, no matter what happens with Congress, though the Supreme Court needs to approve first. Given the way the Supreme Court has handled patent cases lately, it would be surprising if they had a problem with this particular change.
Slowly, but surely, it looks like the courts themselves are chipping away at the setup that makes patent trolling so profitable.
Originally Published: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 03:45:24 GMT
source
A key part of the patent reform proposal that everyone thought was going to happen earlier this year was to change those rules to require the patent holder to have to actually explain where the infringement occurred -- basically inching up the bar to filing a patent lawsuit. Then the trial lawyers came in and killed patent reform dead with a call to Senator Harry Reid. However, it looks like the courts may want to take this matter into their own hands. The Judicial Conference sets the rules by which the courts work under, and it appears that it's basically decided to implement this change in rules (bringing patent lawsuits more in line with most regular lawsuits) anyway, no matter what happens with Congress, though the Supreme Court needs to approve first. Given the way the Supreme Court has handled patent cases lately, it would be surprising if they had a problem with this particular change.
Slowly, but surely, it looks like the courts themselves are chipping away at the setup that makes patent trolling so profitable.
Originally Published: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 03:45:24 GMT
source
