Senate Vote Tomorrow Could Give Helping Hand To Patent Trolls
by Joe Mullin · Electronic Frontier FoundationA patent on crowdfunding. A patent on tracking packages. A patent on photo contests. A patent on watching an ad online. A patent on computer bingo. A patent on upselling.
These are just a few of the patents used to harass software developers and small companies in recent years. Thankfully, they were tossed out by U.S. courts, thanks to the landmark 2014 Supreme Court decision in Alice v. CLS Bank. The Alice ruling has effectively ended hundreds of lawsuits where defendants were improperly sued for basic computer use.
Tell Congress: No New Bills For Patent Trolls
Now, patent trolls and a few huge corporate patent-holders are so upset about losing their bogus patents. They are lobbying Congress to change the rules–and reverse the Alice decision entirely. Shockingly, they’ve convinced the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote this Thursday on two of the most damaging patent bills we’ve ever seen.
The Patent Eligibility Restoration Act (PERA, S. 2140) would overturn Alice, enabling patent trolls to extort small business owners and even hobbyists, just for using common software systems to express themselves or run their businesses. PERA would also overturn another 2013 Supreme Court case that prevents most kinds of patenting of human genes.
Meanwhile, the PREVAIL Act (S. 2220) seeks to severely limit how the public can challenge bad patents at the patent office. Challenges like these are one of the most effective ways to throw out patents that never should have been granted in the first place.
This week, we need to show Congress that everyday users and creators won’t stand for laws that actually expand avenues for patent abuse.
The U.S. Senate must not pass new legislation to allow the worst patent scams to expand and flourish.