The proposed Innovation Act (HR 9) is supposed to target only patent trolls. But as the National Venture Capital Association and 144 major universities warn, the bill’s poorly drafted provisions actually will undermine the startups and small businesses responsible for nearly all breakthrough innovation and job growth in the United States.
Take the bill’s fee-shifting provisions. These require all plaintiffs — not just patent trolls — to pay the legal costs of defendants that prevail at trial unless additional rulings reverse the loser-pays presumption.