SOUTHEAST TEXAS RECORD

The stalemate over a new national infrastructure package appears to be nearing a close, as the Senate voted this week to begin work on a nearly $1 trillion plan.

While the American economy has made significant progress in terms of pandemic recovery, many of the businesses that weathered the past year are still left picking up the pieces and putting them back together. Massive relief spending to support the economy throughout the pandemic has had mixed results for businesses; which speaks to the difficulty of times. Moreover, simply outlasting the pandemic is certainly not enough to end the struggles for many businesses, particularly those with razor-thin margins or leveraged start-ups.

In the two years since Congress overhauled trade secret laws, a spike of court filings and a record-setting judgement could signal the opening of a new frontier in misusing intellectual property law reminiscent of patent trolling which has become a drag on economic growth.