Last year around October, the infringer lobby began a public relations campaign placing countless articles and op-eds villainizing the Eastern District of Texas (ED TX) in publications across the country. This appears to be the first step in cannibalizing H.R.9, the Innovation Act, and S.1137, the PATENT Act, in an organized effort to pass individual provisions as standalone bills.

A new patent reform bill addressing venue called the Venue Equity and Non-Uniformity Elimination Act of 2016 or the VENUE Act, S. 2733 has been introduced in the Senate, so we can start with this bill. Many current cases illustrate how patent reform changing venue would damage small inventors for the benefit of large multinational corporations.  One such case is Automated Tracking Solutions, LLC, v. The Coca Cola Company.

Read the rest of Paul Morinville‘s article here on IPWatchDog.