Trolls, Watch Out: Senator Hatch Introduces New Patent Legislation

This sounds like a step in the right direction. Unfortunately I'm a little skeptical how much it will help given that it's at the Court's discretion to require a bond. It's hard to imagine that happening in East Texas -- where supporting patent trolls is a keystone of the local economy, and judges' chambers often seem indistinguishable from the local Chamber of Commerce.

Even so, I hope this helps.

Being a citizen of Utah I have to say that this is a refreshing change for our dear Sen Hatch who, generally speaking, is often so ignorant and obtuse in tech related matters. I hope he's got someone waking him up generally to the tech sector and that this isn't just an anomaly.

this was a good reminder to me to try to judge a movement/action/thing based on it's merit and not just discredit it because of who's behind it. I agree with others that at the first sight of "Hatch" I though "uh oh? what now?" but this bill looks genuinely great.

My main concern with these bond requirement bills (of which there have been many, most notably the SHIELD act introduced by DeFazio and Chaffetz) is the creation of "super trolls" due to smaller trolls offloading assets since litigation would no longer be as profitable. Such a troll would easily be able to show "that it has and will have the ability to pay the accused infringer’s fees and other expenses if ordered to do so," and while the other factors may be considered, I can see this one being determinative. So you flush out a slew of smaller trolls and give somewhat of windfall to existing, larger trolls. Although this is all hypothetical and perhaps having a few "big" targets is easier to deal with in the long run.

Is there an award for oddest bedfellows? 'Cause this has got to be a real contender. I particularly like Hatch's bond mechanism as this will force the revelation of the money trail. And as every CSI show will tell you 'follow the money' is key to solving crime.

Wasn't he involved in the SCO and Ralph Yarro affair? That's quite a turnaround. What's the catch?

The EFF praises Senator Hatch. It's Halloween, not April Fool's.