New US Congressional Bill Introduced Called the SHIELD Act Aims to Stop Patent Trolls

[dgstorm]

In a rare bipartisan move, a new bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives this week called the Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHIELD) Act. And no, this is not some clandestine government agency that will one day give birth to the Avengers. The SHIELD act aims to stop patent trolls by making them pay all the legal bills for whomever they sue in court, if the lawsuit is unsuccessful. The bill was introduced by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and co-sponsored by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), and what is also unique about it is that for the first time Congress has defined the term "software patent."

This is especially good news because the courts currently use language related to software that has not been updated since 1952. It is important to note that there is also specific language written into the bill to help protect from the possibility that the definition of "software patent" does not become abusable, and in fact this language helps make sure that a patent holder is not guaranteed that their patent is legal, just because it is labeled as a software patent.

Here are a couple of quotes from the Congressmen who introduced this bill:

"Patent trolls don't create new technology and they don't create American jobs," DeFazio said in a news release. "They pad their pockets by buying patents on products they didn't create and then suing the innovators who did the hard work and created the product."

"The SHIELD Act ensures that American tech companies can continue to create jobs, rather than waste resources on fending off frivolous lawsuits," Chaffetz said. "A single lawsuit, which may easily cost over $1 million if it goes to trial, can spell the end of a tech startup and the jobs that it could have created."

This is a great step forward in fixing the broken patent system, although there is still work to be done (that and we don't know if the bill will pass). The heart of the problem lies at the USPTO itself. For now, we will just need to be satisfied with the first baby step.

Source: ArsTechnica

 

[ExodusC]

This seems like a reasonable solution to this issue.

Patent trolls like Rambus who don't even manufacture or design new products will be more hesitant to sue companies who are actually in the business.

I'm not sure exactly how much it would put a stop to the Apple vs. Android lawsuits, simply because these are very high-stakes, and it's clear Apple genuinely believes they are entitled to exclusive use of the (admittedly vague) patents they are suing over.

Still, this is a good first step, as something has to be done about patent trolls.

 

[gmorgan056]

Wow that's a big step forward!

"Patent Troll">insert "Apple" there lol

 

[jwilly216]

The government actually made a good decision....

 

[acousticshade]

A big thumbs up to Peter DeFazio and Jason Chaffetz for co-sponsoring this bill. Hopefully it will pass.

Hopefully next they will start to weed out overly vague patents like the Apple 889 patent which is sham and one of the patents behind the basis for the Apple/Samsung lawsuit.

 

[armeddroid]

Apple is just gonna buy S.H.I.E.L.D. and then sue Marvel.

LOL

 

[dgstorm]

^^... Lmao

 

[Kenyon1]

Apple is just gonna buy S.H.I.E.L.D. and then sue Marvel.

LOL

They have to do something with their money!

 

[lloydstrans]

Apple will be the first to sue to determine the constitutionality of it.

 

[NeoPhoenixTE]

Shield. This means that we may be Avenged yet...

(someone had to make the tasteful pun)

 

[bazar6]

This is definitely a step in the right direction... I'm sure it won't have any short-term effects though. First, it has to be passed. Then it has to be "enacted by X date", which is usually what, 6 months for some bills? Even if it's 1 day, it most probably won't effect in-progress patent suits. But the long term effect is much greater and I really hope this passes (or a similar version). The fact this bill is being presented, whether or not it passes, could help shed more light to the masses on how screwed up the USPTO is

 

[xsylus]

My guess is that if this or some similar bill passes it'll only hurt the little guy trying to get a patent while the big companies like apple will have the money and their own personal legal team to circumvent and find loop holes in the patent bill.

 

[chucklehead]

When is the bill going up for voting?
We need a letter we can digitally sign and send out to those voting voicing our support of the bill.

 

[zomnomnombie]

I dig this.

 

[welsalex]

Well democracy is at work! No surprise it took this long for something to come of it... But glad to see something is happening.