The best patent troll-killing bill yet

https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=9416

by beauzero • 13 years ago

258 31 13 years ago

action.eff.org

ColinWright• 13 years ago

Discussed extensively here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6602902

snarfy• 13 years ago

I'm having a hard time pulling my jaw from the floor after reading Lamar Smith in the name of sponsors.

somethingnew• 13 years ago

Yeah, I am shocked to say the least after he authored SOPA.

antoko• 13 years ago

Why? its not that he hates technology people - he didnt propose SOPA just to piss you off. He's bought and paid for by the content lobby, that's a copyright issue and not at all related to patents. Patent trolls and Hollywood aren't the same entity - lots of us in technology feel the same way about both groups but that's because of our unique perspective. To Lamar Smith and many others this can be viewed as a bill to help the (innovation) economy, his position on SOPA can likewise be viewed as a way to protect (one slice of) the economy. His position is basically a pro-business position - you just happen hate some of the business he supports and love other business he supports. From his perspective your views seem contradictory - why are you pro-business and anti-business?

PhasmaFelis• 13 years ago

It turns out that politicians aren't actually divided along "good/evil" lines, no matter how much we'd like to paint them that way.

vellum• 13 years ago

SOPA was supported by money, not ideology. This bill is narrowly targeted towards NPEs, by making their business model unprofitable. It’s not going to stop Qualcomm from extracting rents or Apple from going after Google.

ExpiredLink• 13 years ago

This proposal more or less codifies the status quo. It's not at all a "patent troll-killing bill".

__david__• 13 years ago

This doesn't seem to be the case, and I kind of trust the EFF, given that they're a bunch of lawyers and have experience in this kind of thing. The "winner pays" thing alone seems like it would go a long way towards stopping frivolous patent lawsuits. Why do you think that it changes nothing?

rob05c• 13 years ago

I was just as shocked to see John Cornyn on the list. Shock and awe.

larrik2• 13 years ago

I still think the idea that customers of an infringing product can be liable is completely bonkers.

dminor• 13 years ago

Devil's advocate: I want to use your technology so I create another company to develop an infringing product and sell it to me cheap.

linuxhansl• 13 years ago

Then your new company is at issue not you as a customer.

larrik2• 13 years ago

I don't see a moral objection to building your own versions of patented products for your own use, either, though.

Putting aside stuff that shouldn't be patented: 1) Selling a product with someone else's patent seems like something that should be discouraged. Giving it away counts here, as do other distribution methods. 2) Making your own product, for your own use, that someone else has a patent on seems perfectly reasonable and should be legal, in my opinion as a layman.

nickff2• 13 years ago

A court can pull back the corporate veil, and penalize the shareholder(s) or director(s) of any company if these individuals are deemed to have been using the company's separate legal personality for the purpose of wrongdoing.

davidw• 13 years ago

Oh, cool - DeFazio (one of the sponsors) is my representative. I guess that saves me from having to call him. Anyone know if they tally calls for people calling to say thanks or good job or whatever?

InXorWeTrust• 13 years ago

Anyone know if they tally calls for people calling to say thanks or good job or whatever?

Probably wouldn't hurt. In fact, it might inspire similar bills on issues such as this.

Happy voters are repeat voters after all!

mildtrepidation• 13 years ago

Whether they do or not, I think this is a great idea. For all the flak they get -- despite much or most of it usually being justified -- encouraging reps that do this sort of thing can only possibly help.

mistercow• 13 years ago

You can bet that the opposition is going to have people calling him. My guess is that if they tally anything, they'll tally both.

chimeracoder2• 13 years ago

Anyone know if they tally calls for people calling to say thanks or good job or whatever?

A number of my friends work in the policy-and-politics sphere - I can assure you they definitely do tally those, and it does make a huge difference, even if your Congressman is one of the sponsors of the bill.

Aside from the official counts that they have to keep whenever constituents call them, the main thing to remember is that these offices are small - even the main offices for senators like Schumer or Gillibrand (who represent big states) in DC are only staffed by a few people at a time. If they're flooded with calls from any particular group, what do you think they're going to be talking about over lunch, or at the (figurative) water-cooler, etc.?

A friend of mine worked for Senator Clinton around 2007, and she loves to tell the story of how they got flooded with fake "Valentines" from the Association for Heart Disease[0] the week of February 14th, in support of some bill. It was a pretty uncontroversial bill and passed with wide support, but just fielding those letters and calls took up so much of their time that week that she still remembers it, years later.

In short, please do call them - they'll remember it the next time they consider sticking their neck out for something that they believe is the right thing to do but may be politically risky.

[0] I don't know the name - you get the idea

fsck--off• 13 years ago

If it was 2007, then it was probably the Heart Disease Education, Analysis and Research, and Treatment for Women Act (acronym HEART). The bill died in the House. Identical bills were passed by the House in 2008 and 2009 but were not voted upon by the Senate.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/110/s573

rhizome• 13 years ago

You can still call him. "Best yet" is not the same as "best possible."

shmerl• 13 years ago

By the way, what happened to another important bill to repeal the wicked DMCA 1201 (by Reps. Zoe Lofgren and others)?

http://lofgren.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=a...

tallbrian• 13 years ago

Regarding "fee shifting" if the loser can be made to pay the winner fees, couldn't that be an even scarier proposition for a troll target?

The best patent troll-killing bill yet

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