SLICES FROM THE
BREADBOARD
Beware patent trolls
Entity Patent Families Litigations
Intellectual Ventures 10,000-12,000 (est.) —
Interdigital Inc. 2633 39
Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) 1806 28
Rambus 850 11
Tessera Technologies Inc. 816 20
Jerome H. Lemelson 513 28
CSIRO 511 12
Acacia Technologies 493 319
Mosaid Technologies Inc. 389 9
Scenera Research LLC 324 18
Papst Licensing GmbH 272 60
Altitude Capital Partners 261 6
Cheetah Omni LLC 201 4
Trontech Licensing Inc. 191 31
St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants Inc. 177 13
Innovation Management Sciences LLC 175 0
Rembrandt IP 146 26
Washington Research Foundation 124 2
Amber Wave Systems Corp. 121 9
Wi-Lan 118 12
Alliacense 118 25
Technology Patents & Licensing Inc. 103 1
WIAV Solutions LLC 98 6
Autocell Laboratories Inc. 98 1
Nathan Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures is considered a troll because he owns roughly 10,000 to 12,000
patent families. His tactic is not to sue large corporations for infringement but instead to intimidate them with
his distinction of being the largest patent holder in the US. Courtesy of PatentFreedom.
No. Company Name
1 Samsung
2 Microsoft
2 Motorola
4 HP
5 AT&T
6 Sony
6 LG
8 Apple
8 Dell
8 Nokia
11 Matsushita Electric
12 Toshiba
13 Time Warner
14 Verizon
15 Sprint Nextel
16 Palm
17 Cisco
17 Intel
17 T-Mobile
20 Kyocera
Number of Litigations
2004 2005 2006
538
356
164
634
226
374
— 73
433
437
273
584
454
—66
133
223
133
— 3—
192
— 52
363
2007
13
11
12
9
14
8
11
11
9
9
6
9
8
13
11
5
12
1
11
4
2008
9
9
11
10
6
7
8
7
5
7
4
4
5
4
4
9
5
7
2
3
Total
38
34
34
32
30
29
29
28
28
28
27
26
25
24
22
21
20
20
20
19
These trolls may not be the characters you read about in fairy tales,
but their intentions are nevertheless
familiar as they seek out vulnerable companies or inventors for patents or pursue
multiple large conglomerates for million-dollar licensing deals.
Patent trolls, also known as nonpracticing entities (NPEs), are rising considerably in number. According to a report
from PatentFreedom – an organization
launched in April 2008 to provide up-to-date information on NPEs to companies
needing patent protection – more than 220
patent trolls are currently in operation.
NPEs do not make or manufacture
products that require patents but instead
buy others’ intellectual property and target companies perceived as breaching
them. The aim of NPEs is to buy patents
from small ventures that are not actively
enforcing them and to make operating
companies pay outstanding royalties for
using them. Trolls are also notorious for
filing costly infringement lawsuits
against those who don’t seek patent
licenses.
An ad hoc organization of companies
that is lobbying for reforms to the US
patent system, the Coalition for Patent
Fairness, states that infringement cases
have increased more than 404 percent
since 1990, with a 30 percent increase in
2007 alone. Corporations such as Sony,
Samsung, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and
Time Warner have all been accused of
patent infringement, and most of these
companies typically go to court several
times a year.
NPEs operate on the premise that most
companies will fold rather than spend millions of dollars at trial in their defense.
Typical trial expenses can total millions of
dollars, plus the settlement charge afterward, if the company is found accountable.
Companies such as Samsung, Microsoft and Motorola
have been continuously threatened by trolls. Without a
patent reform act, a company infringing on a single
patent could face court settlements for the entire operating system to which the patent belongs. Courtesy of
PatentFreedom.
