This past Friday, we launched our Guide to State Patent Reform Legislation. As of this writing, 10 states have passed laws against bad faith assertions of patent infringement, another 4 legislatures have passed bills that are waiting for approval by the governor, and 12 other states have bills in the pipeline (although 2 of those are apparently stalled for this legislative session).
That’s over half the states trying to take some kind of legislative action against patent trolls.
And you may remember that a couple of months ago, 42 state attorneys general signed a letter urging Congress to take action on patent trolls. Here are those states:
If we combine the two, it shows all of the states that openly support some kind of action against patent trolls:
That’s all but 4 states (California, Ohio, West Virginia, and Delaware) that have an attorney general urging Congress to act against patent trolls, a legislature taking action against patent trolls, or both.
That’s about as close to a national consensus as we’re going to get. Patent reform may seem controversial inside the Beltway, but nearly every state supports it.
