OUR CAUSE
Frivolous lawsuits filed by NPEs place a crushing burden on the American businesses that create jobs across all sectors of the economy. Important court rulings and legislative action in recent years have stabilized the system, but now those necessary reforms are under attack.
Progress has been made to address abusive litigation practices over the past few years, including:
2011
Passage of the America Invents Act, which created the Inter Partes Review program to review invalid patents efficiently at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
2014
The Supreme Court's unanimous Alice decision, which restated important legal precedent that enables lower courts to throw out meritless and costly patent litigation early on.
Both developments give businesses the ability to fight bad patents instead of settling or enduring long and expensive court proceedings.
But Now Those Critical Improvements Are at Risk
40%
Percent increase in the frequency of patent litigation brought by NPEs between 2018 and 2022.
In addition to protecting IPR and the benefits of the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Section 101 of the Patent Act in Alice, the coalition supports a number of reforms, available here in our Core Principles.