mr. delbene will be serving as senior advisor to secretary sebelius. and so the secretary obviously makes the choice. the search for the successor involved, in addition to the secretary and members of her team, certainly mr. zeints and and -- peace of technology and, the president and the secretary are very grateful that he agreed to take on this position. >> he will be on the government payroll. can you tell us what he will get paid? >> i don't know the status of what el get paid or how much. i think we said in the past that mr. zeints was essentially volunteering but, taking i think, a small nominal salary. i don't know the case with mr. delbene but we'll get that to you. >> and can you give anymore details what gene will do with his last month in january? will he be involved with the budget bill staying a little longer? >> sure i will confirm that gene sperling will be remaining in his position through at least january, into early february to participate as he has so effectively over these many years in the process around the state of the union addr

delbene: thank you, mr. chair. from the judiciary committee's examination of abusive patent litigation this year, it's clear that there's a need for legislative action. this issue harm companies large and small, from big tech companies to restaurants and credit unions. in recent years, even our public transit agencies have been targeted by these so-called patent trolls in my home state of washington, king county metro was hit with a lawsuit in 2011 from a rival star, a company that claimed infringement from a patent that was so broad that it could cover any system that tracks a vehicle. with this lawsuit, king county's innovative bus tracking and a mobile application which relies on metro's data was threatened. even if there was a strong case to be made for challenging the patent's validity, fighting a suit like this can run into the millions of dollars and at taxpayer expense. so king county had to settle costing them $80,000. and king county was not alone. at least 11 settled with arrival star rather than underta