House Committee Approves Patent Reform Bill, Trolls Targeted

The House Judiciary Committee approved a patent reform bill, voting 33-5 to send the measure, with a few amendments, to the full House. The bill, introduced by Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-Va.) in October, targets abusive patent litigation behavior by raising pleading standards and transparency provisions and has gained the support of tech firms like Cisco, Apple, and Google, that are concerned about patent trolls “The Innovation Act,” Goodlatte said in a statement, “contains needed reforms to address the issues that businesses of all sizes and industries face from patent troll-type behavior, while keeping in mind several key principles, including targeting abusive behavior rather than specific entities, preserving valid patent enforcement tools, preserving patent property rights, promoting invention by independents and small businesses, and strengthening the overall patent system.”