Newsroom
November 05, 2013
NAFCU at Senate Commerce hearing on patent trolls
Nov. 6, 2013 – NAFCU will monitor a Senate Committee on Commerce subcommittee hearing Thursday on the dangers of deceptive practices by patent assertion entities, often called "patent trolls," for their unjustified threats of litigation for alleged patent infringement.
The Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance will hold a hearing titled "Demand Letters and Consumer Protection: Examining Deceptive Practices by Patent Assertion Entities."
"It is estimated that some patent trolls can send upward of hundreds – or even thousands – of letters to small businesses with threats of litigation for alleged patent infringement and demand for payment," the subcommittee's website said. "Lately, many small businesses have paid the demands, even if they have not violated any patents, because of the high costs associated with the patent dispute process and potential litigation. Compounding the problem is the lack of basic disclosures and specificity in the demand letter that would allow recipients to make informed decisions, leaving consumers vulnerable to abuse."
Last week, NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler wrote the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee in support of reforms within H.R. 3309, "Improving the Patent System to Promote American Innovation and Competitiveness."
H.R. 3309 creates "a more efficient patent system, including NAFCU-supported language that would help protect credit unions from baseless litigation involving questionable business method patents," Thaler wrote in his letter. NAFCU supports patent reform that would bring relief to credit unions targeted by baseless litigation associated with low-quality patents.
The Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance will hold a hearing titled "Demand Letters and Consumer Protection: Examining Deceptive Practices by Patent Assertion Entities."
"It is estimated that some patent trolls can send upward of hundreds – or even thousands – of letters to small businesses with threats of litigation for alleged patent infringement and demand for payment," the subcommittee's website said. "Lately, many small businesses have paid the demands, even if they have not violated any patents, because of the high costs associated with the patent dispute process and potential litigation. Compounding the problem is the lack of basic disclosures and specificity in the demand letter that would allow recipients to make informed decisions, leaving consumers vulnerable to abuse."
Last week, NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler wrote the leaders of the House Judiciary Committee in support of reforms within H.R. 3309, "Improving the Patent System to Promote American Innovation and Competitiveness."
H.R. 3309 creates "a more efficient patent system, including NAFCU-supported language that would help protect credit unions from baseless litigation involving questionable business method patents," Thaler wrote in his letter. NAFCU supports patent reform that would bring relief to credit unions targeted by baseless litigation associated with low-quality patents.
Share This
Related Resources
Add to Calendar 2024-04-25 14:00:00 2024-04-25 14:00:00 ChatGPT: What AI can do for you! ChatGPT has been created with one main objective – to predict the next word in a sentence, based on what's typically happened in the gigabytes of text data that it's been trained on. Did you ever hear of the saying, “People fear the unknown?” Artificial intelligence scares people, but it is the future, and you need to understand the tools and resources it offers. It’s also about saving time, that’s what technology and in this case, artificial intelligence can do for you. If you want to save time and have a better quality of life, this training is for you. Once you give ChatGPT a question or prompt, it passes through the AI model and the chatbot produces a response based on the information you've given and how that fits into its vast amount of training data. It's during this training that ChatGPT has learned what word, or sequence of words, typically follows the last one in a given context. During this webinar, ChatGPT: What AI can do for you, you’ll discover the background, purpose, usability, and the pros and cons. Don't miss this opportunity! Key Takeaways Learn the background of AI Understand the purpose of AI Identify the pros and cons Register Now $295 Members | $395 Nonmembers(Additional $50 for USB)One registration gives your entire team access to the live webinar and on-demand recording until April 25, 2025Go to the Online Training Center to access the webinar after purchase » Who Should Attend NCRMs Risk titles Education Credits NCRMs will recieve 1.0 CEUs for participating in this webinar Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
ChatGPT: What AI can do for you!
Credits: NCRM
Webinar
Add to Calendar 2024-04-25 14:00:00 2024-04-25 14:00:00 Unifying Two Different Executive Benefits Programs About the Webinar In part one we discussed how to retain key positions during a time of transition. In part two, we will look at how to combine executive benefits programs from two different organizations into a single high-performing program. Evaluating each program includes many different facets, from strategy and expense to performance and servicing. This session will provide important considerations, whether or not you have pending M&A activity. Key Takeaways: Is the plan design both retentive and efficient? Is the benefit expense properly mitigated? Does the legal agreement reflect the board’s intent? View On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Unifying Two Different Executive Benefits Programs
preferred partner
Gallagher
Webinar
Add to Calendar 2024-04-24 14:00:00 2024-04-24 14:00:00 Optimize Liquidity, Maximize Loan Growth: The Network Lending Advantage About The Webinar Join us to learn more about network lending, a cooperative model allowing credit unions to optimize liquidity and achieve loan growth. Discover how credit unions can participate in loan pools with other institutions, allowing them to diversify portfolios, access loans with potentially lower risk and higher yields, and expand lending capacity without necessarily needing a surge in deposits. Delve into how credit unions can pool their resources, set common underwriting and pricing standards, and collectively originate, buy, and sell loans to optimize liquidity management. Hear from your peers about best practices, case studies, and practical strategies to harness the full potential of network lending and how it's helped their credit unions. Don't miss this valuable opportunity to learn how to strengthen your credit union's position in today’s competitive environment. Key Takeaways: How network lending differs from traditional lending The benefits of participating in loan pools with other credit unions How credit unions can set common underwriting and pricing standards and collectively originate, buy and sell loans to optimize liquidity management Why network lending is critical to loan growth Watch On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Optimize Liquidity, Maximize Loan Growth: The Network Lending Advantage
preferred partner
LendKey
Webinar
Add to Calendar 2024-04-23 14:00:00 2024-04-23 14:00:00 Monitoring the Latest Litigation Risks Credit unions’ operations pose litigation risks, with more of these cases being filed as class action lawsuits. In this Monitoring the Latest Litigation Risks for Credit Unions webinar, you’ll review some of the specific kinds of lawsuits impacting credit unions and what potential claims could be on the horizon. You’ll also examine some options for mitigating risks. Key Takeaways Review the current lawsuit trends. Understand the potential claims risks Explore options for mitigating risks. Register Now $295 Members | $395 Nonmembers(Additional $50 for USB)One registration gives your entire team access to the live webinar and on-demand recording until April 23, 2025Go to the Online Training Center to access the webinar after purchase » Who Should Attend NCCOs NCRMs Compliance and risk titles Education Credits NCRMs will recieve 1.0 CEUs for participating in this webinar NCCOs will recieve 1.0 CEUs for participating in this webinar Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Monitoring the Latest Litigation Risks
Credits: NCCO, NCRM
Webinar
Get daily updates.
Subscribe to NAFCU today.