All posts tagged Patent Trolls

Favorite Update 11/14/2024: The PERA and PREVAIL patent bills were pulled at the last minute today, without getting a committee vote. Senators are right to have concerns with these deeply flawed bills. We hope to engage with the next Congress on real patent fixes—changes that will create a more fair system for small companies and everyday users…

Favorite Update 9/26/24: The hearing and scheduled committee vote on PERA and PREVAIL was canceled. Supporters can continue to register their opposition via our action, as these bills may still be scheduled for a vote later in 2024.  The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote this Thursday on two bills that could significantly empower patent trolls. The…

Favorite At EFF, we believe that all the rights we have in the offline world–to speak freely, create culture, play games, build things and do business–must hold up in the digital world, as well.  EFF’s longstanding project of fighting for a more balanced, just patent system has always borne free expression in mind. And patent…

Favorite The majority of high-tech patent lawsuits are brought by patent trolls—companies that exist not to provide products or services, but primarily have a business using patents to threaten others’ work.  Some politicians are proposing to make that bad situation worse. Rather than taking the problem of patent trolling seriously, they want to encourage more…

Favorite More than 14,000 people and organizations, including EFF, have sent public comments responding to a wrongheaded proposal by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to change the rules about patent challenges in a way that would favor patent trolls.  If implemented, the proposed rule changes could seriously damage the system of “inter partes…

Favorite The internet can be a powerful tool for communicating, collaborating, and finding community. But lawsuits and threats from patent trolls have been an obstacle to the dream of a free and open internet. That’s why EFF has been fighting back against them for more than 15 years.  Patent trolls are companies that are focused…

Favorite In recent months, Delaware-based U.S. District Court Judge Colm Connolly started an inquiry into some patent trolling companies that have filed dozens of lawsuits in his court. Last month, lawyers for the patent troll companies appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, seeking to shut down the investigation. Those events…

Favorite If you get sued, you should be able to figure out who sued you. Remarkably, though, people and companies who are accused of patent infringement in federal court often have no idea who is truly behind the lawsuit. Patent trolls, companies whose main business is extorting others over patents, often hide behind limited liability…