Vaccine TROL Act of 2021
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Consumer Protection and Commerce.
Vaccine Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters Act of 2021 or the Vaccine TROL Act of 2021
This bill prohibits sending bad faith patent demand letters concerning a product relating to COVID-19 during the declared public health emergency.
A patent demand letter is a written communication claiming that the recipient may be liable for patent infringement. Bad faith means making knowingly false or misleading statements, making claims with reckless indifference for the truth, or omitting information with the intent to deceive.
Bad faith representations shall include false or misleading claims about the sender's right to assert a patent and whether lawsuits have been filed. They also include making written demands for compensation for invalid patents or to demand compensation without identifying the ultimate parent entity of the letter sender.
Under this bill, a patent demand letter related to COVID-19 is presumed to have been sent in bad faith if the sender fails to respond within 10 business days of receiving a request by the letter recipient for (1) certain information required by this bill, or (2) the patent claim that the sender reasonably believes is being infringed.
The sender shall have an affirmative defense that it acted in good faith by proving that its misstatements or omissions were unintentional and that it made an error in spite of procedures to avoid such errors.
The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general may bring actions to enforce these provisions.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on June 17, 2021. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on June 18, 2021: Referred to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 117th Congress (2021-22), 362 of the 15,242 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Michael Burgess (R-TX) introduced it on June 17, 2021. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 17, 2021, 1911 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1910 days ago, on June 18, 2021.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 117th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2023 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers