Patent trolls threaten innovation

To the editor:

The thought of getting sued is bad enough. Now imagine getting sued and not knowing why or not knowing who is suing you. This is a common practice of nonpracticing entities or patent trolls, as they are referred as. These companies do not provide a service nor produce a good. Instead they swallow up thousands of patents and file a wide net of baseless lawsuits on unsuspecting businesses claiming patent infringement in search of a quick settlement payment.

This practice is a problem across the country utilized by patent trolls and is what Sen. Chuck Grassley and six other Senate co-sponsors are trying to fix by introducing the bipartisan PATENT Act. Iowa businesses should be thankful for their efforts.

The purpose of the PATENT Act is to address abusive patent litigation which threatens our innovation economy by costing businesses and consumers billions of dollars each year. According to the RPX Corp., a provider of patent risk management services, patent trolls cost operating companies $12.2 billion in 2014. More than 9,500 American companies have had to defend themselves from patent trolls since 2010.

The PATENT Act makes reforms to help curb patent trolls from casting a wide net when filing baseless lawsuits by increasing transparency including knowing why you are being sued and who is filing the claim, among many other protections. The time for patent reform is now.

Lacy Laughton

Iowa City