The Senate in the State of Oregon passed a bill on February 14 that adds a ban on patent trolling in accordance to Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act. Senate Bill 1540 had overwhelming support in the Senate, with a 30-0 with no abstaining votes. The bill will now be passed to the House Judiciary Committee for review.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Jackie Winters (R-Salem), would “prohibit person or person’s affiliate from communicating demands to recipient if in demand person or affiliate alleges, asserts or claims in bad faith that the recipient has infringed or contributed to infringing patent or rights that patent, assignee or licensee has under patent.” The prosecuting attorney in these patent suits would then have to determine that the targeted party has acted in bad faith for them to proceed, as well as provide proper documentation regarding specific violations and findings to the party while acting in good faith on their own over previous defense of the patents in question.
Targets of patent abuse are also given a channel for recourse by allowing them to sue and recoup legal fees.
