Add Kentucky to the growing list of states that are introducing their own legislation to combat so-called “patent trolls.” Earlier this month, Whitney Westerfield and Christian McDaniel, both Republicans, introduced Senate Bill 116. The legislation would enable the recipients of bad-faith demand letters to sue those trolls trying to extort money from them.
Oregon isn’t the only state recently that has been moving forward with legislation to curb patent trolls. The Kentucky Senate has moved forward in a bill to put restrictions on patent trolls acting in bad faith in their allegations according to FOSS Patents. SB 116 introduced by Senator Christian McDaniel (R-District 23) and Senator Whitney Westerfield (R-District 3) In Kentucky sets out to establish rules for a “bad-faith assertion of patent infringement as a violation of Kentucky’s consumer protection chapter.” The bill is similar to one Vermont introduced in 2013 and the current bill in Oregon under consideration at the judicial level.