Goodlatte Wants Any New PTO Director to Help Curb Patent Litigation Abuse

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., wants the Trump administration to name a new Patent and Trademark Office director to build on "good work" of his committee and several Supreme Court decisions on curbing patent litigation abuse, he said Thursday. At a Courts, IP and the Internet Subcommittee hearing on how "bad patents" affect U.S. businesses, Goodlatte said companies are forced to settle patent lawsuits rather than expand. TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods (see 1705220045) was supposed to sharply reduce such cases, but Goodlatte singled out the Eastern District of Texas as continuing to be friendly to patent infringement lawsuits (see 1608010016). He cited passage of his Innovation Act in previous Congresses as a way to curb such problems, but hasn't committed to the bill's reintroduction (see 1702010069). Chris Mohr, Software & Information Industry Association vice president-intellectual property, said congressional and court actions have helped limit abuse, but only Congress can do "true litigation reform." United for Patent Reform co-Chair Beth Provenzano, vice president-government relations and political affairs at the National Retail Federation, said Congress needs to keep provisions in Section 101 of the Patent Act, the Supreme Court's 2014 Alice v. CLS Bank (see 1406200066) and inter partes review process strong to defend against bad patents.