In November of 2013, a Kentucky Senate voted that "to establish a bad-faith assertion of patent infringement as a violation of Kentucky's consumer protection chapter and authorize the utilization of the remedies available for those violations in addition to private remedies established in the bill." Let me back up a bit to give you some context. A subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance showed that patent trolls used deceptive demand letters. There are many factors that go into deciding whether or not something actually constitutes bad-faith when discussing patent trolling. The laundry list is spelled out and gives a structure as to whether someone can claim patent trolling was in bad-faith. However, patent law is a federal issue, not a state one. Hopefully, there is legislation at the Federal level that mirrors the concerns of the Kentucky state legislature so that demand letters in bad faith will no longer be tolerated.
From: http://www.fosspatents.com/2014/02/kentucky-senate-committee-approves.html
It will indeed be interesting to see the effects of such in Vermont and, if the bill passes, in Kentucky (http://openstates.org/ky/bills/2014RS/SB116/). Do you think they will prove effective on a state level?
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is a step in the right direction, however when a federal court levies judgment it carries far more significance than a state legislature. I would like to think the adoption of this measure in Kentucky could potentially galvanize other states on following suit.
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