“I am optimistic the Senate can pass meaningful [patent reform] legislation this year,” said Senate Judiciary member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a statement after a committee hearing on patent issues. “Effective legislation must include mandatory fee shifting and a mechanism to ensure recovery of those fees, even against judgment-proof shell companies.” Hatch said last month that it was time to reform the America Invents Act, which he introduced in 2005 with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., (see 1502120047). Patent reform legislation has been proposed, but Hatch said then that he will “oppose any bill that fails to prevent patent trolls from litigating-and-dashing.” "Patent trolls strategically set their royalty demands below litigation costs to entice companies to settle rather than run the risk of expensive and risky patent litigation,” said Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in written remarks. “We recognize that abusive patent litigation practices are a corrosive assault on the nation’s patent system and must be forcefully countered,” said Michael Crum, Iowa State University vice president-economic development, in written testimony. But a “careful, fact-based cost/benefit evaluation of each of these proposals must be carried out, particularly given that the evidentiary basis for sweeping patent reform has been called sharply into question,” he said. “The patent landscape has shifted considerably since various patent reform proposals were first proposed, creating fundamental questions about the urgency of broad patent reform at this time.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation applauded a statement by a coalition of Japanese activists and artists that protested proposed copyright provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said an EFF blog post Tuesday. EFF has characterized TPP copyright provisions as a “massive” threat for Internet users (see 1502130045). The Japanese coalition’s protest centered around TPP’s proposed extension of copyright terms, said EFF. “There has been growing opposition among Japanese users, artists, and fans against this copyright expansion -- which is nicknamed the ‘Mickey Mouse Law’ there due to Disney's heavy lobbying that led to the copyright extension in the United States nearly two decades ago,” it said. Disney didn’t comment.

Members of Congress were urged to enact broad patent reform legislation, in a Tuesday letter signed by 140 startup investors who invested in companies including Dropbox, Facebook, Kickstarter, Instagram, Redfin and Twitter, said an App Developers Alliance and Engine Advocacy news release. Organized by Engine Advocacy and the App Developers Alliance, the letter asks Congress to “support reforms that include increased demand letter transparency” and limit the “scope of expensive litigation discovery,” because patent litigation abuse is a growing problem, the news release said. So-called patent trolls filed 2,791 new lawsuits in 2014, the release said. About 82 percent of patent troll activity targets small- and medium-sized businesses, the release said. “Our Constitution favored a patent system to incentivize innovation and benefit all Americans,” the letter said. “Unfortunately that system has been hijacked by some intent on exploiting Patent Office weakness, and all too frequently it now hinders innovation and chills investment, harming the new companies it was designed to foster and imposing a patent troll tax on new technologies.” The investors asked Congress to pass legislation that would increase transparency, limit the scope of expensive litigation discovery, allow courts to use their discretion to require patent trolls to pay legal fees and other costs incurred by prevailing defendants and to protect end users of technology from being liable for infringements by tech providers, the letter said.

The International Trade Commission voted Friday to begin a Tariff Act Section 337 investigation (ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-950) into allegations that Dell electronics with near field communication functions or battery power-up functions violate NXP Semiconductor patents, the ITC said. NXP filed the underlying complaint Feb. 10 (see 1502130026), alleging Dell’s XPS 15, XPS 12 and Jabra Revo Wireless headset copy its NFC technology that allows data exchange using radio technology over short distances, without special registration passkeys required by Bluetooth devices. NXP is asking for a limited exclusion order and cease and desist order banning import and sale of infringing Dell devices. A Dell spokesman declined to comment.

The FTC approved 5-0 a settlement with MPHJ Technology Investments and its law firm Farney Daniels that was announced in November (see 1411130057), an agency news release said Tuesday. The FTC lawsuit alleged MPHJ and Farney Daniels “bought patents relating to network computer scanning technology, and then told thousands of small businesses that they were likely violating the patents and should purchase a license,” the commission said. MPHJ and Farney Daniels used “deceptive sales claims and phony legal threats in letters” to accuse “thousands of small businesses around the United States of patent infringement,” the release said. The case marks the first time the FTC has taken action using its consumer protection authority against a patent assertion entity, the agency said. The order bars MPHJ, Farney Daniels and MPHJ owner Jay Mac Rust from asserting patent rights, making false or unsubstantiated representations that a patent has been licensed in substantial numbers or has been licensed at particular prices, the FTC said.

“Patent trolls are crippling growth across all sectors of our innovation economy -- from small businesses to America’s largest companies,” Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, wrote in a column for Wired Monday. Hatch said he would work with colleagues on “legislation to stop these patent trolls in their tracks” and announced hearings will begin this week “to address this issue.”

Michelle Lee was sworn in as under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and Patent and Trademark Office director Friday by Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, a Department of Commerce news release said. It said Lee is the first woman to fill the role.

NTIA and the Patent and Trademark Office will hold a meeting on online licensing for copyrighted works April 1, said a Federal Register notice set for Friday publication. The meeting will focus “specifically on how the Government can assist in facilitating the development and use of standard identifiers for all types of works of authorship, interoperability among databases and systems used to identify owners of rights and terms of use, and a possible portal for linking to such databases and to licensing platforms,” it said. The meeting will be held at the PTO office in Alexandria, Virginia.

The “fundamental emphasis” of Monday’s letter to Congress by pro-fair use groups and law experts was “misplaced,” said Free State Foundation President Randolph May in a news release Wednesday. The letter’s signatories included the Computer and Communications Industry Association, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Internet Association, Internet Infrastructure Coalition and Public Knowledge (see 1503090038). The letter “studiously avoids mentioning ‘property,’ ‘intellectual property,’ or ‘property rights,’” May said. He took aim at the letter’s use of the phrase “public domain,” which it characterized as a “core component of creativity and knowledge.” The "most important attribute of private property is the ability of property owners to exclude others,” May said: “‘Public domain’ is just the opposite.” While "there is a place for a properly delimited public domain, in general, government-mandated ‘free’ access will not encourage creative content, nor will it allow creators to allocate their works in the manner of their choosing or lead to economic benefits for society as a whole,” he said. “We’re not talking about property, because we’re talking about copyright,” Sherwin Siy, PK vice president-legal affairs, said in an interview. “The question of whether or not [copyright] is property is kind of irrelevant when it comes to what the law is,” he said. The letter sought to address the “balance between the holder of the domain and the public,” because there are “values in both private and public property,” Siy said. It’s not a “mischaracterization” to refer to copyright as “regulation,” as May suggested, he said. Copyright is “regulation,” he said. CCIA and EFF didn’t comment.

Last week’s U.S. Trade Representative Special 301 report on “notorious” IP markets claimed that domain “registrars are required … to take action by locking or suspending domains when they receive a notice about one of their domains facilitating illegal activity,” an Electronic Frontier Foundation blog post said Tuesday. “This isn't true, and by claiming it is, USTR is here repeating the United States entertainment industry's current talking points,” notably those of MPAA and RIAA, it said. ICANN has an agreement with registrars that they should act when “notified of illegal activity,” including piracy and counterfeiting, the report (see 1503050040) said. “On the same day as the Notorious Markets list was published, the RIAA wrote a letter to ICANN claiming that it is not ‘appropriate’ for registrars to deny any obligation to respond to their members' complaints,” EFF said. MPAA, RIAA and USTR didn’t comment.