Ten States Pass Anti-Patent-Troll Laws, With More To Come 64
An anonymous reader writes "With patent reform stalled in the Senate, many states have decided to take up the issue themselves. 'As states kicked off their legislative sessions this winter, lawmakers responded to the threats against small businesses by writing bills that would ban "bad faith patent assertions" as a violation of consumer-protection laws. The bills target a specific type of patent troll: the kind that sends out vaguely worded letters demanding licensing fees. The thousands of letters sent out by the "scanner trolls" at MPHJ Technology are often brought up as a case-in-point. The new laws allow trolls that break rules around letter-writing to be sued in state court, either by private companies they've approached for licensing fees, or by state authorities themselves.'"
Trolls? (Score:0, Funny)
This is the Internet Police. You are under arrest for trolling slashdot. We have hacked your computer and have you IP address and all other information we need to track you and put you in the hole for a long time. Now come to the local police station and turn yourself in and we will give you a much reduced sentence.