Directs a party alleging infringement in a civil action involving a claim for relief arising under any Act of Congress relating to patents to include in the court pleadings, unless the information is not reasonably accessible, specified details concerning:
each claim of each patent allegedly infringed, including each accused process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter (referred to as an "accused instrumentality") alleged to infringe the claim; for each claim of indirect infringement, the acts of the alleged indirect infringer that contribute to, or are inducing, a direct infringement; the principal business, if any, of the party alleging infringement; the authority of the party alleging infringement to assert each patent and the grounds for the court's jurisdiction; each complaint filed that asserts any of the same patents; and whether a standard-setting body has specifically declared such patent to be essential, potentially essential, or having potential to become essential to that body, as well as whether the United States or a foreign government has imposed any specific licensing requirements.
Requires courts to award prevailing parties reasonable fees and other expenses incurred in connection with such actions unless:
(1) the position and conduct of the nonprevailing party was reasonably justified in law and fact, or
(2) special circumstances (such as severe economic hardship to a named inventor) make an award unjust.
Directs courts, upon a motion of a party, to require another party to certify whether it will be able to pay any award of such fees and expenses in the event that such an award is made against such other party. Allows the court, if a nonprevailing party is unable to pay such a fee award made against it, to make a party that has been joined to the action with respect to such party liable for the unsatisfied portion of such award.
Deems to be a nonprevailing party a party asserting a patent claim against another party who subsequently unilaterally extends to such other party a covenant not to sue for infringement with respect to the patent at issue (thus providing for the other party to be considered the prevailing party), unless the party asserting the claim, at the time the covenant was extended, would have been entitled to voluntarily dismiss the claim without a court order.
Requires the court, upon a motion by a prevailing party defending against an allegation of infringement in a case in which the nonprevailing party alleging infringement is unable to pay an award of fees and expenses, to join an interested party if such prevailing party shows that the nonprevailing party has no substantial interest in the subject matter at issue other than asserting the patent claim in litigation.
Defines "interested party" as a person, other than the party alleging infringement, that: (1) is an assignee of the patent; (2) has a right, including a contingent right, to enforce or sublicense the patent; or (3) has a direct financial interest in the patent, including the right to any part of an award of damages or licensing revenue, subject to exceptions for attorneys providing legal representation and owners of equity interests in the party alleging infringement.
Permits a court to deny a joinder motion if: (1) the interested party is not subject to service of process, or (2) the joinder would deprive the court of subject matter jurisdiction or make venue improper.
Prohibits an interested party from being joined unless it has been provided actual notice, within 30 days after it has been identified in a disclosure made upon the filing of an initial complaint, that it may be an interested party subject to joinder. Requires such notice to be provided by the party who subsequently moves to join the interested party after fees and expenses have been awarded and the nonprevailing party alleging infringement is unable to pay.
Requires the court to deny a joinder motion if the interested party, after receiving such notice, renounces any ownership, right, or direct financial interest in the patents at issue.
Limits discovery to only the information necessary to determine the meaning of patent terms when the court requires a ruling relating to the construction of terms used in a patent claim asserted in the complaint.
Makes such limitation inapplicable to an action seeking a preliminary injunction to redress harm arising from the use, sale, or offer for sale of any allegedly infringing instrumentality that competes with a product sold or offered for sale, or a process used in manufacture, by a party alleging infringement.
Requires a court to permit additional discovery if resolution of the action within a specified period of time will necessarily affect the rights of a party with respect to the patent.
Allows a court to permit additional discovery in special circumstances as necessary to prevent a manifest injustice.
Allows parties to voluntarily consent to be excluded from specified discovery limitations under this Act and to instead proceed according to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) parties who send purposely evasive demand letters to end users alleging patent infringement are abusing the patent system in a manner that is against public policy, and (2) actions or litigation stemming from such purposeful evasion should be considered a fraudulent or deceptive practice and an exceptional circumstance when considering whether the litigation is abusive.
Prohibits a claimant seeking to establish willful infringement from relying on evidence of pre-suit notification of infringement unless such notification: (1) identifies the asserted patent, the product or process accused, and the ultimate parent entity of the claimant; and (2) explains, to the extent possible following a reasonable investigation or inquiry, how the product or process infringes the claims of the patent.
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