PATENT Act not so good for small businesses?

From a post by a Kent Hoover:


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The PATENT Act is better for small inventors than the House’s patent reform bill, but “it’s still problematic,” said Molly Day, vice president of the National Small Business Association.

“It still would put major onus on legitimate small firms defending their patents by allowing for a stay in discovery as well as the customer stay, whereby a patent infringer’s customers could continue to sell a product that is in litigation,” said Molly Day, vice president of the National Small Business Association. “It also will require small companies to post a bond to get the additional discovery they need, and then delay and make it harder to get that discovery to prove infringement.”

Several senators said the Senate Judiciary Committee needs to hear more diverse views on the bill, including those of small businesses that rely on patents, before moving forward with the legislation.

Large corporations have the resources to enforce their patents under this new law, said Sen.Dick Durbin, D-Ill., but many small businesses don’t.

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