BLUF: The U.S. Solicitor General’s recent filing in Interactive Wearables LLC v. Polar Electro seeks to overturn a court decision that rightfully invalidated a patent troll’s broad claims, demonstrating the need for wholesale reform in the patent system and strengthened legal defenses against frivolous lawsuits.
The article raises concerns about the flood of bad patents that continue to be issued, leading to hundreds of low-quality patent lawsuits every year. It argues that government officials should be working to reduce, not increase, the burden that such lawsuits impose on innovators. The Alice decision, combined with another Supreme Court decision called Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Labs, has been a big step forward in getting the worst-of-the-worst software patents kicked out of the system. However, the recent brief filed by the U.S. Solicitor General seeks to overturn a court decision that rightfully invalidated a patent troll’s ridiculous patent, further highlighting the need for legislative change and strengthened legal defenses against frivolous lawsuits.