New York's Libel Terrorism Protection Act of May 2008

Judicary chairman Patrick Leahy, when not working on patent reform, has been involved with a Free Speech Protection Act, which would protect US writers from libel judgments in external jurisdictions. New York has a Libel Terrorism Protection Act to this end.

Within the US, one has various anti-SLAPP statutes.

On the topic of anti-SLAPP, within a post The Echo of TomToms in the Amazon Deal on TechNewsWorld, one finds a quote:

"We have no way to know what patents Amazon needed, and they do a lot of things that don't involve Linux such as DRM and Windows 'in the cloud' hosting," Montreal consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack told LinuxInsider. "I really wish there were a SLAPP-type law against alleging patent infringement without mentioning what patents are being infringed. Such a law would stop a lot of FUD in its tracks," he said.

To be clear, a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) is a lawsuit that is intended to censor, intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition. [Wikipedia] The protective statutes are "anti-SLAPP."

The TechNewsWorld post also referenced a Prickly Patent Grill.



Previous IPBiz posts:

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2007/11/judge-to-hear-anti-slapp-arguments-in.html

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2009/11/law-prof-sues-blogger.html