WASHINGTON – Yesterday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee marked up and favorably reported H.R. 2045: the Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters Act of 2015 (TROL Act) on a party line vote. The legislation aims to curtail the abuses of patent trolls who send vague and deceptive patent demand letters to businesses.

Many times, convenience store owners and other retailers, the “end-users” of technology products (such as Wi-Fi or credit card processing technology), are the targets of patent trolls seeking to scare companies into quick settlements or licensing agreements. Demand letters alleging patent infringement are often threatening and vague, and companies frequently find it less costly to pay the patent troll a settlement or licensing fee rather than chance having to engage in an expensive court battle.

Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Joe Barton (R-TX) each offered amendments that addressed the bill’s “bad faith” standard, and would have made it easier for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce against fraudulent demand letters. Unfortunately, Eshoo’s amendment failed and Barton ultimately chose to withdraw his amendment, once he received commitments from the committee leadership that they would work together to strengthen the bill before it reaches the House floor.

In a letter sent to committee members before the markup, NACS expressed its support for both the Eshoo and Barton amendments, which NACS believed would vastly improve the TROL Act that it had opposed at the subcommittee level.

At the end of the markup, Chairman Upton noted that the bill would likely not reach the House floor for several months, thus giving the committee sufficient time to resolve the bill’s issues. He also stated that the bill will likely move forward as an amendment to another bill instead of as stand-alone legislation.

Patent reform also moved forward in the Senate — members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Charles Schumer (D-NY), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) introduced their long-awaited patent reform bill, the Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship Act (PATENT Act).  The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to hold a hearing on that bill next week.