FTC Testifies on Patent Assertion Entities and Legislation, Announces Patent Troll Study

Although it appears that there will be no hard line patent reform legislation this year, the issue is hardly apt to go away. Shortly after Senator Patrick Leahy announced that he was taking the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act of 2013, also known as the Innovation Act, off the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s agenda, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) flexed its muscles in its own fight against patent trolls when it testified before a House Subcommittee on May 22. Lois Greisman, Associate Director of the FTC’s Division of Marketing Practices, testified before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, on consumer protection issues involving patent demand letters, Patent Assertion Entities (“PAEs”), and proposed legislation to prohibit deceptive patent demand letters.