NRF Supports Patent Reform Legislation

By Christine Kern, contributing writer

The National Retail Federation (NRF) has announced its support for patent reform legislation introduced by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck E. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ranking Member Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vt., that aims to help retailers guard against patent trolls.

“Retailers are victimized by patent trolls’ abusive practices more often than any other businesses,” NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French wrote in a letter to the bill’s sponsors. “Patent trolls divert vital resources from retailers that they could otherwise use to invest and grow their business, further innovation and create jobs.”

The NRF sees the legislation, The Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship (PATENT) Act, as a positive move to protect its members, which include discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants, and Internet retailers.

As Business Solutions Magazine reported last fall, a study by Unified Patents demonstrated that, overall, patent litigations were down for Q3, but 2014 remained on target to be the second most litigious year in history. In fact, total patent litigations are anticipated to top the 5038 litigations in 2012.

Previous efforts at such legislation have fallen short of the necessary support from Congress. The PATENT Act was a revised version of prior proposed legislation that addressed some of the most severe criticisms of those proposals.

The PATENT Act is co-sponsored by Senators John Cornyn III ( R-TX); Charles E. Schumer, (D-NY); Orrin G. Hatch, (R-UT); Mike S. Lee, (R-UT), and Amy Klobuchar, (D-MN).