Patent Small Claims Tribunal’s Potential Future Home Debated

Patent and inventors associations voiced disagreement on where and how to establish a proposed small claims court for resolving infringement disputes between individual inventors and small businesses that can’t afford traditional litigation, public comments submitted to the Administrative Conference of the US show.

Some, including National Association of Patent Practitioners and Amazon.com Inc., argued that such a tribunal should be housed within the US Patent and Trademark Office, while other groups like US Inventor Inc.asked for a court within the traditional federal court system.

The Administrative Conference, which is conducting a study on the merits a small claims ...