Bill Sponsor
House Bill 6370
115th Congress(2017-2018)
Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters Act of 2018
Introduced
Introduced
Introduced in House on Jul 13, 2018
Overview
Text
Introduced
Jul 13, 2018
Latest Action
Jul 13, 2018
Origin Chamber
House
Type
Bill
Bill
The primary form of legislative measure used to propose law. Depending on the chamber of origin, bills begin with a designation of either H.R. or S. Joint resolution is another form of legislative measure used to propose law.
Bill Number
6370
Congress
115
Policy Area
Commerce
Commerce
Primary focus of measure is business investment, development, regulation; small business; consumer affairs; competition and restrictive trade practices; manufacturing, distribution, retail; marketing; intellectual property. Measures concerning international competitiveness and restrictions on imports and exports may fall under Foreign Trade and International Finance policy area.
Sponsorship by Party
House Votes (0)
Senate Votes (0)
No House votes have been held for this bill.
Summary

Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters Act of 2018

This bill makes sending bad faith patent demand letters an unfair or deceptive act in violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act.

A patent demand letter is a written communication claiming that the recipient may be liable for patent infringement. "Bad faith" means making knowingly false or misleading statements, making claims with reckless disregard for the truth, or omitting information with the intent to deceive.

Bad faith representations under the bill include false or misleading claims about the sender's right to assert the patent, whether lawsuits have been filed against the recipient or others, and whether others have purchased a license to exercise the patent.

It is also bad faith to make written demands for compensation for invalid patents, or to demand compensation without identifying the ultimate parent entity of the letter sender.

The sender has an affirmative defense that it acted in good faith, by proving its misstatements or omissions were unintentional and it made an error in spite of procedures to avoid such errors.

The bill preempts state laws relating to patent assertion communications. The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general can bring actions to enforce these provisions.

Text (1)
July 13, 2018
Actions (2)
07/13/2018
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
07/13/2018
Introduced in House
Public Record
Record Updated
Jan 11, 2023 1:42:02 PM