---
type: "Bill"
title: "Commerce and trade; bad faith assertions of patent infringement; prohibit"
description: "A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to selling and other trade practices, so as to prohibit bad faith assertions of patent infringement; to provide for definitions; to provide for factors for determining whether a bad faith assertion of patent infringement has been made; to require the posting of a bond when a bad faith claim of patent infringement has been made; to provide for enforcement; to provide for damages; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ga"
legislature: "Georgia General Assembly"
session: "2013_14"
identifier: "HB 809"
citation: "Georgia HB 809 (2013_14)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bruce Williamson", "Geoff Duncan", "Johnnie Caldwell, Jr.", "Randy Nix", "Robert Dickey", "Virgil Fludd"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 16
vote_count: 1
first_action: "2014-01-22"
last_action: "2014-07-01"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d6b20256-4359-4c29-8ec1-ab8e10085a49"
source_url: "http://webservices.legis.ga.gov/GGAServices/Legislation/Service.svc?wsdl"
source_hash: "b76787cb45c985a4b48fa262426f71a5e9562875cd69b8adecd8f7b36c6e9cdc"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ga"]
---

# Georgia HB 809 (2013_14) — Commerce and trade; bad faith assertions of patent infringement; prohibit

A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 10 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to selling and other trade practices, so as to prohibit bad faith assertions of patent infringement; to provide for definitions; to provide for factors for determining whether a bad faith assertion of patent infringement has been made; to require the posting of a bond when a bad faith claim of patent infringement has been made; to provide for enforcement; to provide for damages; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HB 809/AP*** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/143216.pdf)
2. **LC 39 0524ER/a** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/137900.pdf)
3. **LC 39 0581S/hcs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/139123.pdf)
4. **LC 39 0581S/hs** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/138924.pdf)
5. **Sen ctee sub LC 39 0645S** (committee substitute) — [source](http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20132014/140299.pdf)

## Votes

- PASSAGE — **169–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Bruce Williamson — primary (person)
- Geoff Duncan — primary (person)
- Johnnie Caldwell, Jr. — primary (person)
- Randy Nix — primary (person)
- Robert Dickey — primary (person)
- Virgil Fludd — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2014-01-22** House Hopper
- **2014-01-23** House First Readers `reading-1`
- **2014-01-24** House Second Readers `reading-2`
- **2014-02-04** House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2014-02-06** House Third Readers `reading-3`
- **2014-02-06** House Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2014-02-07** Senate Read and Referred `referral-committee`
- **2014-02-19** Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2014-02-20** Senate Read Second Time `reading-2`
- **2014-02-21** Senate Third Read `reading-3`
- **2014-02-21** Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute `passage`
- **2014-03-11** House Agreed Senate Amend or Sub
- **2014-03-24** House Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2014-04-15** House Date Signed by Governor `executive-signature`
- **2014-04-15** Act 513 `executive-signature`
- **2014-07-01** Effective Date

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d6b20256-4359-4c29-8ec1-ab8e10085a49`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Georgia legislature records).