Patent Law Practice Center

Obama Administration Releases 3-Year IP Enforcement Plan

The Obama Administration released a joint strategic plan on intellectual property enforcement for fiscal years 2017 through 2019. The title of the report is Supporting Innovation, Creativity & Enterprise.

The section on patents, which begins on page 134, begins by saying:

Patent-intensive industries are a driving force in the U.S. economy. According to a recent Department of Commerce report, the value added by patent-intensive industries in 2014 was $881 billion, which was 5.1 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Supporting efficient and predictable patent protection policies that promote investments in research and development is key to the continued growth of innovative economies.

Without effective mechanisms to protect intellectual property rights, including patents and trade secrets, competitors could simply sit back and copy, rather than invest the time and resources required to invent and innovate. Research and development would be even riskier investments, with little to no assurance that such investments would or could be commercially put into use. Simply put, facilitating efficient and predictable patent protection policies harnesses the drive and ingenuity of our innovators and helps ensure that our economy remains innovative and competitive.

(more…)

Paying Ransom to Patent Trolls Is a Mistake

I have absolutely no problem with enforcing patent rights, and frankly I don’t think it should matter how the patents were acquired, but there is something exceptionally seedy about the use of shell companies going after competitors, or large tech companies selling to known patent trolls. They complain about the troll problem in the halls of Congress on the one hand, but use them to their advantage on the other hand.

The question should be whether there is infringement of a solid patent. If there is a solid patent and there is infringement, then there should be recourse, period. Having said that, it would be naive to pretend that there is not real evil lurking in the patent infringement realm. Stories of $500 to $1,000 offers to settle and avoid patent infringement litigation that would cost millions of dollars to defend abound. False and misleading demand letters prey on unsophisticated businesses.

(more…)

Litigation Abuse: The “Problem” of Patent Trolls

The term “patent troll” conjures up all kinds of images and ideas, but what is a patent troll?  The answer is that there is really no universally accepted definition of what a patent troll is.  In the most common sense of the term, it is usually reserved for those who acquire patents from inventors or companies, perhaps through bankruptcy, auction or otherwise, and then turn around and sue giants of industry for patent infringement.  In this situation, patent trolls are typically extremely well funded, they are not engaging in any commerce, so they do not fear a patent infringement counter-claim because they are not infringing, or doing, anything.

Over time, however, as the debate has matured and many with a patent reform agenda seek to weaken patent rights in hopes of solving their short-term litigation concerns, the term patent troll has morphed to mean any non-practicing entity. Such a definition of patent troll is overly broad, though, because it collects many entities that are simply not doing anything other than pursuing the American dream. These individuals and entities include universities, independent inventors, research & development companies, and federal laboratories. Indeed, such a list of innovators has typically been one that has been celebrated, not reviled.

But there are, of course, bad actors.

(more…)

Problem Child – A Third-Grade Approach to Patent Owners

Last week on IPWatchdog.com, I published a five-part series that debunked many prevalent myths about patent trolls. See A Fractured Fairy Tale: Separating Fact and Fiction on Patent Trolls, written by Steve Moore of Kelley Drye. While a bit long, it should be considered mandatory reading if you want to understand the underlying facts instead of just buying into the hype and hyperbole associated with the so-called “patent troll problem.”

Moore, with co-authors Marvin Wachs and Timothy Moore, concludes that when you really look at the facts and underlying dynamics of patents and patent litigation, there really isn’t a problem at all. Perhaps there is litigation mischief in some cases, but overall what you see in the hard, factual data is not at all surprising. There really is no patent troll problem at all, and despite what many charge, the quality of the patents asserted by non-practicing entities is quite high, at least if you remove from consideration patents asserted by independent inventors.

But is there a problem? Yes. I think there is clearly litigation abuse, and some of that abuse probably does rise to the level of patent misuse. But we have laws on the books to handle that kind of litigation misconduct, which is exactly what it is — litigation misconduct. To try and sweep an entire class of patent owners together in a pile in order to address the few, easily identifiable miscreants is just plain stupid. We all knew that it was wrong when we were in third grade and the teacher punished everyone because one or two kids didn’t follow the rules.

(more…)