The Patent Litigation and Innovation Act (HR-2639), introduced...

The bill would institute heightened pleading requirements that would disclose additional information on a lawsuit’s claims during the litigation process, which proponents of the bill said will increase transparency when “patent trolls” send out cease-and-desist letters. The bill would also allow for stays in the discovery process to allow more court scrutiny. “Americans need to know they are safe from abusive litigation when they buy a product off the shelf and use it for its intended purpose,” Farenthold said. The bill “focuses like a laser beam on the important issue of frivolous lawsuits brought by patent trolls,” Consumer Electronics Association President Gary Shapiro said in a statement. “This legislation will allow legitimate companies to protect their patents, while discouraging abusive litigation.” “It’s exciting to see lawmakers proposing new solutions to help curb abuses of the patent system -- in this case lawsuits that target consumers,” said Matt Levy, Computer and Communications Industry Association patent counsel, in a statement. “Another very interesting idea in the bill is to treat patent cases more like securities cases in that judges would have to do a review at the end of the case to determine if the attorneys satisfied their obligations to not file frivolous papers with the court."