Law Commons^™

Testimony Before The House Committee On Energy And Commerce, Hearing On Patent Demand Letter Practices And Solutions, Paul Gugliuzza

Faculty Scholarship

A small number of patent holders have been abusing the patent system. These patent holders blanket the country with thousands of letters demanding that the recipients purchase a license for a few thousand dollars or else face an infringement suit. The letters are usually sent to small businesses and nonprofits that do not have the resources to investigate allegations of patent infringement. And the letters often contain false or misleading statements designed to scare the recipient into purchasing a license without investigating the claims of infringement. In an attempt to address this problem, eighteen states have recently passed statutes that, …