Senators Call For Better Patent Quality

Five Senate Democrats are urging the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) to take steps to improve the quality of patents and make the examination process more efficient. By focusing up front on the quality of the patents it approves, PTO can reduce litigation later, the senators say in a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker. “While it is important that our legal system uphold the rights of our intellectual property owners to enforce those rights in court, abusive litigation raises questions about whether too many illegitimate patents are being issued,” according to Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), and three other Democrats. The senators say that higher-quality patents will reduce patent “trolling” by entities that seek to profit by filing lawsuits against companies claiming that their patents have been infringed.