Washington, DC - Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) attorney Julie Samuels will testify on how patent trolls harm start-ups and consumers through deceptive demand letters and legal threats at a US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation hearing on Thursday, Nov. 7.
Samuels, who is the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents, will address how patent trolls' tactics amount to a shakedown racket, causing billions of dollars of economic damage each year. The trolls, also known as "patent assertion entities," neither make nor sell anything, but threaten to sue unsuspecting businesses with vague and dubious patent claims. Samuels will argue that Congress should enact statutory protections for consumers who find themselves facing patent troll threats by regulating the demands those trolls make and increasing transparency around those demands.
Who: Julie Samuels, EFF Senior Staff Attorney and Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents
What: US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance hearing: "Demand Letters and Consumer Protection: Examining Deceptive Practices by Patent Assertion Entities"
When: 10:00 am EST, Thursday, Nov. 7
Where: Russell Senate Office Building, Room 253, Washington, DC
Webcast: http://www.commerce.senate.gov
EFF staff will provide live commentary on the hearing via Twitter. Follow @EFFLive or visit https://twitter.com/efflive.
For the official announcement from the Senate Commerce Committee: https://eff.org/r.5chx
