Why You Should Care About H.R. 9 - The Innovation Act
On Monday, July 13th NAR launched a Call for Action to all REALTORS® asking them to contact their Members of Congress and urge support for H.R. 9 - The Innovation Act. But you might be asking yourself "why should I care and how will it affect me?"
H.R. 9 - The Innovation Act
The Innovation Act offers a host of critical fixes to the problem of patent trolls. Trolls' abusive litigation tactics have exploded in recent years, putting a drain on our innovation economy and harming innocent end users. The National Association of REALTORS® is supporting H.R. 9 - The Innovation Act to close loopholes in our legal system that allows patent trolls to thrive. REALTORS® are targeted by patent trolls at alarming rates for simply using common business technologies like dropdown menus and search functions on websites or scan-to-email technologies found in every office scanner. Patent trolls exist solely to purchase old patents and to use the threat of expensive lawsuits to extort money from legitimate businesses. Congress must pass common-sense comprehensive patent litigation reform to protect Main Street businesses and REALTORS® from patent troll abuse.
H.R. 9 is scheduled for House floor consideration later this summer. Congress must pass this common-sense comprehensive patent litigation reform to protect Main Street businesses and REALTORS® from patent troll abuse.
Why should you and REALTORS® care about Patent Reform?
You may think a patent troll can’t disrupt your business but individual REALTORS®, Brokers, and Multiple Listing Services have all been targeted with vague and deceptive letters alleging patent infringement to demand unjustified payments for using basic technology like dropdown menus, website search functions, and even office scanners. Currently a loophole in our legal system allows patent trolls to disrupt businesses - big and small, local and national - by demanding fees for the use of common business technologies. The Innovation Act - H.R. 9 - would close these loopholes.
While the opposition to H.R. 9 has been very vocal and is trying to delay the vote, our efforts to encourage a vote have been noticed on Capitol Hill and the House Leadership has signaled that a vote could take place next week. Now is the time to get every REALTOR® to answer the Call for Action and help convince the House of Representatives to pass this legislation of vital importance to the real estate industry.
Without meaningful patent litigation reform, REALTORS® and other small and midsize business owners will remain targets of extortion by unscrupulous entities that demand licensing fees or threaten frivolous lawsuits under the guise of patent infringement.
“Patent trolls are using vaguely worded demand letters to bully Realtor®-owned businesses into paying exorbitant ransoms for using everyday business practices like scan-to-email technology and website features like searchable property listings,” said 2015 NAR Liaison for Law and Policy Vince Malta, broker of record for Malta & Company in San Francisco.
Contact your U.S. Representative and urge them to support H.R. 9, the Innovation Act
Thank you for your support on this important legislative issue.
