As we look ahead to the new Congress, there is much speculation about gridlock and entrenched political warfare. However, both parties should find common ground in ending the egregious abuses of our patent system by so-called patent trolls.
Patent trolls take advantage of vague or poor-quality patents to threaten expensive litigation and extract costly settlements from their unsuspecting victims. The lodging industry has been a particular target; hundreds of hotels have been hit with suits claiming they owed a patent owner thousands of dollars simply for providing Wi-Fi services to their guests. If a hotel refuses to pay, the troll threatens to it to court.
Last Congress, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and I made enormous progress on legislation to stop patent trolls. We weren’t able to complete our work this past year, but I remain committed to this fight and am confident that we will be able to win it. The reason for my confidence and commitment is simple: The problem of patent trolls isn’t going away on its own. To the contrary, every indication is that it’s getting worse.
In 2007, patent assertion entities were responsible for 24 percent of all patent lawsuits. This alone is disturbing, but even more disturbing is that it went up to 58 percent by 2012. And the trolls are savvy about how they are filing cases. Of the 6,092 patent cases filed in 2013, nearly 25 percent were in a single court, the Eastern District of Texas. And 941 cases, 15 percent of the national total, were filed in front of a single judge in that district. The plaintiff-friendly courts in the District of Delaware were not far behind, shouldering almost 22 percent of the nation’s patent cases last year.
Because of the breadth of the problem, there is an enormous coalition pushing for change, and I know it will not give up. In late April, a group of nearly 400 companies ranging from Adobe to Macy’s to White Castle, as well as trade associations like AH&LA, signed a letter supporting a compromise package Sen. Cornyn and I put together. These supporters reflect the diversity of interests that recognize the system needs reform.
Just because there is broad recognition that a problem exists does not mean a solution is clear or easy. While we must do everything to stop patent trolls from abusing the system, we cannot do so at the expense of legitimate businesses that make legitimate investments in research and development of patents and deserve to protect their technologies. We’ve been seeking a balance that will effectively block trolls without unintended consequences on legitimate patent holding businesses.
Sen. Cornyn and I worked together to find compromises that we believed would address the legitimate concerns we heard about patent reform legislation without undermining the solutions. While our proposal did not carry the day last spring, we will continue working to pass meaningful legislation that addresses the very real damage trolls are doing to our economy.
I said several times over the course of this debate that I was unwilling to support legislation that would not actually solve the problem and that it was better to wait and get legislation right than to quickly pass something that would not work. Victims of patent trolls have been waiting patiently over the last year; they should rest assured that we’re going to keep working to pass effective patent reform legislation, and we’re going to get it right.
Chuck Schumer is a senior U.S. senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party.
