Kansas bill targets patent trolls

? A bill moving through the Kansas Senate would ban the practice of “patent trolling,” the practice of making bogus claims of owning a patent or trademark and then sending demand letters to other businesses for payment of licensing fees.

Senate Bill 38 would ban the practice of making bad-faith claims asserting patent infringement and would give the Attorney General’s office authority to seek civil damages against anyone who violates the law.

Assistant Attorney General Adrian Serene told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that patent trolls claim to hold patents on any number of things, ranging from copiers and telephones used in offices to certain kinds of software or other technology. They then demand that the target company pay them licensing fees for each employee in the office who uses that item or technology.

Serene said even though patents and trademarks are typically regulated at the federal level, Congress has been unable to pass legislation, leaving states to act on their own. Several states including Illinois, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ohio, Tennessee and Louisiana have enacted similar laws.

“The purpose of SB 38 has little to do with patents,” he said. “Rather, it has to do with preventing fraudsters from exploiting our vitally important patent system in order to bilk Kansas companies or consumers out of money they do not, in fact, owe.”

Sen. Jeff King, R-Independence, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said patent trolling was the subject of an interim study last year and that there is near-universal support for the bill in the business community. He said he hopes to vote the bill out of committee and send it to the full Senate in the near future.