Media Coverage
Source: Law360
Media Coverage
01.01.14
Speaking to Law360 about key technology-related regulatory and legislative actions to watch for in 2014, Pillsbury partner Richard Blaylock commented on the Innovation Act. Passed by the House of Representatives and currently pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Innovation Act would require patent complaints to contain more specific details about infringement allegations as well as limit discovery until after claim construction. The act would also require patent litigants who bring suits and lose to pay their opponents' costs in some situations.
Blaylock, a San Diego North County-based member of Pillsbury’s corporate and securities and technology practice teams, said such a sea change in fee shifting policy would potentially make it riskier for entities to assert their patents. “Right now, fee shifting is an exceptional event in patent cases. This bill would create a more default situation, in which a court would award the winner in a case attorneys’ fees to be paid by the loser, unless the loser can show a substantially justified position.”
He noted that concerns that certain provisions of the bill designed to crack down on patent trolls could place an undue burden on plaintiffs with more legitimate patent infringement claims are warranted. “This could end up hurting universities or individual inventors.”
He added that such concerns over the unintended consequences of efforts to clamp down on non-practicing entities are expected to arise in the Senate debate over the legislation.