Q: What can I do to prevent passage of the Patent Reform Act of 2009?
A: Go to our What You Can Do page. There are four things listed there that you can do.

Q: What are the chances of the Patent Reform Act of 2009 being passed into law?
A: That’s hard to say, but opposition to the legislation is growing. Several Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee recently spoke out against the bill and wrote to the committee chair and ranking member claiming that the 2007 version of the legislation was voted on by house members without most of them taking a serious look at the bill. We hope a more serious consideration of the law will show members of Congress that the proposed legislation is really not reform at all, and not in the best interests of American industry or American workers.

Q: What is a patent troll?
A: “Patent troll” is a derogatory term (used primarily by patent infringers) to describe a patent owner who enforces his (or her or its) patent, but does not practice the patent. Thomas Edison was awarded over 1,000 patents, but he never practiced any of them. Edison was not a manufacturer or industrialist; he was an inventor. He invented things, and then licensed his patents to others who turned them into products and services. Was Thomas Edison a patent troll?

Q: Should a patent owner who does not practice the patent he (or she or it) owns have the same rights as patent owners who practice their patents?
A: We believe all patent owners should be able to vigorously enforce their patents, whether they practice those patents or not. A patent is intellectual property, and property rights are property rights. Does a person who puts his car in a garage and not drive it have any less right to the ownership of that car than the person who drives his car to work every day?

Q: Are there no criminal penalties for essentially stealing someone’s property (i.e., his patent)?
A: The AIPR believes that there should be criminal penalties for willful patent infringement. There are legitimate cases of unintentionally infringement in which two people or businesses make essentially the same discovery totally independent of each other, and one of them patents the invention. The owner of the patent should be entitled to compensation for the use of the patented invention. Such unintentional patent infringement – to be reasonable and fair – should not be criminalized. However, when a party willfully and knowingly (with malice and forethought, to use a criminal law phrase) infringes a patent, we believe there should be both civil and criminal penalties.

Q: What can be done when a non-US manufacturer infringes a U.S. patent?
A: Under current law, no action can be taken against the infringer within the infringer’s country. However, that company can be barred from importing its products into the US.