AH&LA and “United for Patent Reform” Coalition Show Support
February 5, 2015 – WASHINGTON – The process of ridding America’s thousands of employers and millions of consumers of destructive patent trolls took a critical step forward today with the introduction of the bipartisan Innovation Act, patent reform legislation authored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). The American Hotel and Lodging Association is a leading member of the broad-based patent reform coalition, United for Patent Reform, which today praised Rep. Goodlatte for introducing the bill.
“Each year, the predatory behavior of patent troll lawsuits cost the U.S. economy $80 billion in lost revenue and productivity, when instead those dollars could be directed towards creating jobs and investment in communities. Many consumers and businesses in the lodging industry have been unfairly victimized by predatory ‘patent trolls,’ which hold patents simply for the purposes of extorting money from companies. We are grateful for Rep. Goodlatte’s thoughtful leadership in crafting legislation to stop this harmful behavior, and we look forward to working with him as well as supporters of patent reform in the Senate as the process moves forward,” said Katherine Lugar, President and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association.
“Patent trolls are a scourge on every sector of the American economy and all types of American businesses,” said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, and a leader of the United for Patent Reform coalition. “Patent trolls produce no goods or services; all they do is extort money from good, productive businesses that do. They kill jobs, increase consumer prices, cause startups to shut down, and reduce capital investment. Patent trolls contribute literally nothing.”
The United for Patent Reform coalition also expressed gratitude to the bipartisan group of original co-sponsors joining Chairman Goodlatte in introducing the Innovation Act, including Representatives Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Tom Marino (R-Penn.) and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Randy Forbes (R-VA), Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), George Holding (R-NC), Bill Johnson (R-Ohio), Jared Huffman (D-CA), Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) and Pedro Pierluisi (D-PR).
“The sponsors of this legislation have shown true leadership by advancing very real solutions to the costly problems that inhibit businesses large and small across many industries that want to grow their businesses, not fight frivolous lawsuits brought by patent trolls,” Shay said. “Trolls have far too long held American businesses hostage and robbed our economy of billions of dollars that would otherwise be invested in jobs, innovation, consumer savings and shareholder value. The Innovation Act is a strong first step in changing that.”
