US HB108 | 2019-2020 | 116th Congress

Status

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: Introduced on January 3 2019 - 25% progression, died in committee
Action: 2019-01-25 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.
Pending: House Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee
Text: Latest bill text (Introduced) [PDF]

Summary

Prohibits sending bad faith patent demand letters. A patent demand letter is a written communication claiming that the recipient may be liable for patent infringement. Bad faith means making knowingly false or misleading statements, making claims with reckless disregard for the truth, or omitting information with the intent to deceive. Bad faith representations include false or misleading claims about the sender's right to assert a patent and whether lawsuits have been filed. It also includes making written demands for compensation for invalid patents, or to demand compensation without identifying the ultimate parent entity of the letter sender. The sender shall have an affirmative defense that it acted in good faith, by proving its misstatements or omissions were unintentional and it made an error in spite of procedures to avoid such errors. The bill preempts state laws relating to patent assertion communications. The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general may bring actions to enforce these provisions.

Tracking Information

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Title

Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters Act of 2019

Sponsors


History

DateChamberAction
2019-01-25HouseReferred to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.
2019-01-03HouseReferred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
2019-01-03HouseIntroduced in House

Same As/Similar To

HB3666 (Related) 2019-07-30 - Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet.
SB2082 (Related) 2019-07-10 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Subjects


US Congress State Sources


Bill Comments

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