The bill – filed by Florida Democrat Ted Deutch and known as HR2024 – would require firms to define patents more precisely and be clear about ownership, reports V3.

New products

The aim of the move is to make it harder for patent-holding firms to transfer ownership of patents and file claims, meaning developers will have more freedom when creating new products.
Tech blogger Adi Kamdar from the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the new law would mean that firms would be required to disclose when a shell company is filing a patent infringement claim, leaving large firms accountable for malicious 'patent troll' activities.

Shell companies

‘We currently don't have an effective way of confirming who owns a particular patent, nor do we know what patents a particular person or company owns,’ said Mr Kamdi.
‘A combination of poor record-keeping infrastructure and practices, as well as scheming businesses that transfer patent ownership to shell companies, has resulted in a hazy patent system where the lack of transparency has become a competitive tool.’