Statement on White House Announcement on Patent Trolls

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Internet Association released the following statement applauding today’s announcement by the White House regarding patent trolls:

The Internet Association applauds the executive actions on high-tech patents announced by the White House today and we echo the President’s call for legislation to put patent trolls out of business for good. As the President said, patent trolls are nothing more than extortionists, abusing the court system to shake down innocent inventors, entrepreneurs and end users.

Bogus patents and frivolous lawsuits are holding back innovation and costing American consumers billions of dollars each year. The White House proposals will help crack down on the most abusive practices. The actions announced today are a significant step toward requiring fee shifting in more cases, increasing transparency with respect to the parties responsible for abusive patent litigation, improving the quality of software patents and reducing forum shopping at the ITC.

Internet companies spend too much time and resources defending against abusive patent litigation. Economists recently estimated that patent trolls are a $29 billion a year drain on the U.S. economy. We commend the White House for the bold actions announced today.

The Internet Association thanks Chairmen Goodlatte and Leahy, Senators Cornyn and Schumer, and others in Congress for their leadership in proposing legislation to address these areas of significant concern. We look forward to working with Congress and the Administration on these actions and more to curb the abuse to the patent system that draining resources from innovation and is costing American jobs.

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