The House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on oversight and investigations has taken the "first step" in looking for solutions to the problem of abusive patent litigation, subcommittee Chairman Tim Murphy (R., Pa.) said in his opening statement at a Nov. 14 hearing."The intent of today's hearing is not to assess the current state of our nation's patent system or to opine on the various legislative proposals that have recently been introduced or discussed in this area. Nor is this hearing intended to be a comprehensive look at all patent assertion activity that occurs in advance of litigation. This is about gathering facts about the nature and scope of this problem. Our purpose in holding this hearing is to learn more about a number of questionable practices that have recently proliferated and the significant direct and indirect costs they have imposed on businesses, large and small," Chairman Murphy said.
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