Gibbons Law Alert
As we previously reported, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) recently introduced H.R. 3309, entitled “Innovation Act,” (hereafter, “the Goodlatte Bill”). After varying support and challenges to the bill, as well as a competing Senate version, on December 5, 2013, the House passed an amended version of the Goodlatte Bill with a bi-partisan vote of 325-91.
On Monday, a group of some 60 law school professors from across the country formally joined the debate on the perceived abuses by Patent Assertion Entities (“PAEs”), or so-called patent trolls. The Professors signed a letter to Congress that decries “abusive patent enforcement” by trolls. The result of these litigations, according to the Professors, is the diversion of billions of dollars from employee hiring and retention and product development to “wasteful litigation.”
We previously reported on the recent efforts by Congress to reform patent litigation procedures by way of the House’s “Innovation Act” H.R. 3309. The Senate is considering its version of the bill, entitled the Patent Litigation Integrity Act, S. 1612.
Last week, Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch (D. UT) introduced the Patent Litigation Integrity Act, S. 1612. The Senate bill follows the introduction of a bill proposed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R. VA), H.R. 3309, entitled “Innovation Act,” which also proposes a number of significant changes to patent litigation procedures.
Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) introduced H.R. 3309, entitled “Innovation Act,” a 51-page bill proposing a number of significant amendments to the Patent Act (Title 35 U.S.C.). We reported last month on an earlier proposed draft of this bill. As we noted last month, among the more noteworthy provisions of the bill is a proposed new 35 U.S.C. § 281A, which heightens the pleading requirements for patent cases. Specifically, the proposed new section mandates providing detailed information about the patents alleged to be infringed, identifying each accused product/process, and providing information with “detailed specificity” regarding how the product infringes. This provision also sets forth that, for any required information not disclosed, the plaintiff must establish why such undisclosed information was not readily accessible, and the efforts made by such party to access it.
Recently, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) announced a 47-page draft of a bill that proposes various amendments to the Patent Act, Title 35 of the United States Code and the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Importantly for IP practitioners, the draft bill would heighten pleading requirements for patent cases under a new 35 U.S.C. § 281A, by requiring detailed information in a complaint, including all the patents alleged to be infringed, an identification of each accused product and information with “detailed specificity” regarding how the product infringes. The proposed revisions would eliminate the current “Form 18,” which is the baseline model for alleging patent infringement.