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While your League led a successful effort in 2014 to pass comprehensive Patent Troll legislation in Maine, similar legislation introduced at the federal level still awaits Congressional action. Last week, your League joined others in communicating with select Senators asking for their support and assistance in moving S. 1137 - The PATENT Act forward.
In a letter to Senator King, whose leadership helped to passage the CU-supported changes to the IOLTA legislation last December, your League's Director of Governmental Affairs, Elise Baldacci, explained, "The PATENT Act seeks to curb abuses brought on by Patent Assertion Entities, commonly referred to as patent trolls. Patent trolls assert patents of dubious quality against legitimate businesses and organizations, including credit unions. This often comes in the form of a demand letter alleging infringement of a purported patent and threatens a lawsuit with a caveat to resolve the matter through a settlement frequently involving an agreement for the business to pay a license fee to use the patent going forward."
"As we discussed at length last year, fighting off the claims of patent trolls has a significant negative effect on small businesses, including credit unions, by detracting resources and incurring costs to fend off legal action. Passing legislation at the state level has helped but legislation is sorely needed at the federal level to strengthen safeguards against these abuses. The PATENT Act presents a tremendous, bipartisan opportunity to do just that. It requires patent owners to explain the basis for the alleged infringement when they file a complaint and protects innocent businesses from unfair or deceptive demand letters. The PATENT Act will also require patent trolls who file frivolous patent infringement lawsuits unsuccessfully to pay the legal fees for the business they targeted and will instruct the courts to develop rules and procedures to reign in the out of control discovery costs that patent trolls use to force unwarranted settlements from innocent defendants. This allows legitimate businesses and organizations that are being shaken down by patents trolls and do not want to settle to continue to fight the legal claim without worrying about exorbitant costs," observed your League's President John Murphy, in outlining why your League had written a formal letter to Senator King on this issue.
Your League will continue to discuss and communicate with Maine's Congressional Delegation, and anticipates covering this topic at length with each member of the Delegation during this fall's 'Hike the Hill' trip.
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