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CEA Backing Bill To End Anonymous Patents

Arlington, Va. – The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is supporting new legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to end anonymous patents.

On Thursday Representative Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) introduced the End of Anonymous Patents Act and in a statement Michael Petricone, senior VP of government and regulatory affairs for CEA, said, “Patent Assertion Entities’ (also known as PAEs or patent trolls) lawsuits have reached epidemic proportions in the technology industry. By exploiting loopholes in the law, patent trolls- who produce nothing of value penalize innovators and drive up prices for consumers.”

CEA organized a media briefing in April in Washington to discuss the problems patent trolls cause and to back legislation called The SHIELD Act proposed by Rep. Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).

Petricone said, “Patent trolls take advantage of the fact that it is often very difficult to determine who actually owns a patent. They engage in shell games, hide resources and assets and obscure who actually benefits from settlements and judgments.”

And he noted, “By requiring much-needed transparency through the disclosure of patent sales and clarification of ‘real-party-in-interest’ (RPI), this bill will better inform parties subject to lawsuits by patent trolls.”

Petricone said that Deutch’s bill “combined with other measures, such as the SHIELD Act … will help free innovators from the grip of those who profit from abuse of our current patent system.”

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