LEGISLATION to reduce the damages US inventors can claim from companies who infringe their patents was slammed as a “chill on innovation” by an inventors’ group last week.
The Democrats have reintroduced the Bush administration’s Patent Reform Bill, which ran out of congressional time in April 2008. This would set damages in proportion to the contribution any invention makes to a product, rather than the product’s value.
One aim is to slash incentives for “trolls” who patent ideas with the intention of suing companies with a similar technology. Such a case cost the BlackBerry maker Research In Motion $612 million…
