U.S. Supreme Court makes life tougher for patent trolls

The U..S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to patent trolls with two 9-0 rulings. “For practical purposes, the two cases mean that lower courts will have more latitude to use legal fee shifting as a way to punish and deter companies that abuse the patent system,” wrote Jeff John Roberts in GIGAOM, April 29, 2014.

As a result of the decisions, patent trolls would be discouraged for pursuing a marginal intellectual property case that imposes extraordinary costs on the opposition. In those cases, the judge would have the discretion to award attorney’s fees. (Forbes, April 29, 2014, by Daniel Fisher)

“By imposing strict requirements not found in the statute, the Federal Circuit had made it almost impossible for defendants to get attorney fees after defeating a weak case. In its Octane opinion, the Supreme Court applied a much more flexible standard, ruling that trial courts should award fees ‘in the case-by-case exercise of their discretion, considering the totality of the circumstances,’” wrote Daniel Nazer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, April 29, 2014.