The last few years have been eventful for patent law in the United States. Since the modern Patent Act was enacted in 1952, there were only modest amendments for nearly 60 years. The most significant changes to the Patent Act came in 2011, when President Obama signed into law the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act. Among other things, the AIA transformed the United States into a first-to-file system and expanded the post-grant opposition procedures. Since the AIA was enacted, the White House and Congress have continued their efforts to address perceived weaknesses in the patent law, primarily relating to nonpracticing entities (so-called patent trolls) and abusive litigation tactics.
Obama discussed the potential for abusive litigation by patent trolls in his January State of the Union Address. The House of Representatives recently passed HR 3309, the Innovation Act, and the Senate is considering a variety of bills, including S 1720, the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act of 2013. These and similar bills address issues such as pleading requirements, transparency (i.e. identifying the real parties in interest), limits on discovery in litigation, bad-faith demand letters and fee shifting in patent litigation.
