House Committee Votes to Advance Bill Aimed at Patent Trolls
Rep. Goodlatte calls 33-5 vote a 'pivotal step'
After a marathon markup session that lasted into the evening, the House Judiciary Committee passed a bill targeting abusive patent troll practices. In a bipartisan 33-5 vote, the Innovation Act will now head to the House floor, where it has a good chance of passing.
House judiciary chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chief sponsor of the bill ,called its passage a "pivotal step toward eliminating the abuses of our patent system by discouraging these frivolous lawsuits."
Patent trolls, businesses whose sole purpose is to hold patents and pursue licensing fees or file infringement lawsuits, have become the bane of existence for nearly every business sector in the economy, from advertisers to retailers to banks and tech companies.
"Abusive patent litigation is having a significant impact on American innovation, needlessly costing small and large businesses alike tens of billions of dollars every year, resources that could have been used to creative innovative new...
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