Changes

Legislation that enacts sweeping reform of the patent system will not help curb patent troll activity. This type of reform only weakens patent protection for legitimate patent holders and patent trolls alike and does not deter patent trolls from engaging in abusive or frivolous litigation. The Innovation Act and PATENT Act would exceed what is needed to reduce the activity done by a small number of patent trolls by raising the costs and risks for all legitimate patent holders to enforce their patent rights in court or defend themselves from larger companies. Any legislation that would alter the current patent system should target the specific actions used by patent trolls and should not propose broad reforms that change the procedure used to enforce patents. Congress last passed comprehensive patent reform only five years ago, in 2011, and the unintended consequences from those changes are still appearing. Without carefully analyzing the potential effects of broad reform, Congress should not rush to combat the small amount of abusive activity with sweeping changes that will negatively affect everyone.