US subcommittee approves TROL Act, despite criticism
A US subcommittee has approved the Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters (TROL) Act, despite criticism that the bill does not go far enough to halt abusive patent demand letters sent by non-practising entities (NPEs).
In a 10-7 majority, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, a branch of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, approved the TROL Act yesterday (April 22).
The bill is aimed at targeting fraudulent patent demand letters sent by certain NPEs, sometimes referred to as ‘patent trolls’.
One of the key proposals is to give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the power to fine individuals and businesses that have been found to have sent fraudulent patent demand letters.
The bill was first introduced in the previous Congress under the same name.
Despite the subcommittee passing it with a 13-6 majority in July 2014, chairman Michael Burgess asked stakeholders to make further amendments.
Before the bill's approval, one group was unhappy that it does not go far enough.
Beth Provenzano, co-chair of United for Patent Reform (UPR), a group representing Facebook and Google that demands patent reform in the US, sent a letter to Burgess on Tuesday (April 21) urging legislators to make further amendments to the bill.
Among the suggestions was to remove the requirement that letters have to be sent in bad faith before they are investigated by the FTC.
Also, the UPR has said letters that don’t identify the “allegedly infringed claims” of a patent should be seen as abusive and subject to investigation.
Provenzano wrote: “Unfortunately the discussion draft of the TROL Act falls short of addressing the urgent need for strengthened enforcement of demand letter abuse.
“The drain on commerce and innovation that vague, misleading, or deceptive letters have on businesses across many sectors of the economy is well understood, and we have encouraged the subcommittee to make changes to the draft legislation that would help alleviate the problem,” she added.
Burgess has said he welcomes further input from interested parties.
In a statement on the subcommittee’s website, he said: “I hope more stakeholders will work with us within the confines of what we can do constitutionally to provide additional avenues of enforcement.
“Our door remains open,” he added.
The TROL Act will now move on to the full Energy and Commerce Committee.
