TITLE 48

MONOPOLIES AND TRADE PRACTICES

CHAPTER 17

BAD FAITH ASSERTIONS OF PATENT INFRINGEMENT

48-1701.  LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND INTENT. (1) The legislature of the state of Idaho finds that:

(a)  Idaho is striving to build an entrepreneurial and knowledge-based economy. Attracting and nurturing information technology (IT) and other knowledge-based companies are important parts of this effort and will be beneficial to Idaho’s future.

(b)  Patents are essential to encouraging innovation, especially in the IT and knowledge-based fields. The protections afforded by the federal patent system create an incentive to invest in research and innovation, which spurs economic growth. Patent holders have every right to enforce their patents when they are valid and infringed, to solicit interest from prospective licensees and to initiate patent enforcement litigation as necessary to protect intellectual property.

(c)  The legislature does not wish to interfere with the good faith enforcement of patents or good faith patent litigation. The legislature also recognizes that Idaho is preempted from passing any law that conflicts with federal patent law.

(d)  Abusive patent litigation, and especially the assertion of bad faith infringement claims, can harm Idaho companies. A business that receives a letter or other communication asserting such claims faces the threat of expensive and protracted litigation and may feel that it has no choice but to settle and to pay a licensing fee, even if the claim is meritless.

(e)  Not only do bad faith patent infringement claims impose a significant burden on individual Idaho businesses, they also undermine Idaho’s efforts to attract and nurture IT and other knowledge-based companies. Funds used to avoid the threat of bad faith litigation are no longer available to invest, produce new products, expand or hire new workers, thereby harming Idaho’s economy.

(2)  Through this narrowly focused chapter, the legislature seeks to facilitate the efficient and prompt resolution of patent infringement claims, protect Idaho businesses from abusive and bad faith assertions of patent infringement and build Idaho’s economy, while at the same time carefully not interfering with legitimate patent enforcement actions.

History:

[48-1701, added 2014, ch. 277, sec. 1, p. 699.]