PATENT TROLLS


OPEN SEASON ON PATENT TROLLS? THE BAD, THE UGLY, BUT ALSO THE GOOD


With President Obama joining the fray, it seems like open season has been declared on patent trolls. But, as troll-hunting legislators set their sights on the bad and sometimes ugly behaviour of trolls, there are those in the industry who would argue that not all these beasts should be tarred with the same brush, as Haydn Evans explains.


President Obama’s initiative to curb the activities of patent trolls—also known, more prosaically, as non-practising entities (NPEs)—has certainly drawn attention to the role and behaviour of these organisations. In the president’s eyes, they are a negative force: “Tey don’t actually produce anything themselves,” he says. “Tey’re just trying to essentially leverage and hijack somebody else’s idea and see if they can extort money from them.”


However, as we move towards an environment of greater open innovation, there is a blurring


of the lines between the activities of trolls, some, arguably, more benign NPEs, and even companies that have previously been the victims of trolls. Many companies are finding that they are better at innovating than they are at commercialising those innovations, and so are looking for returns from their ideas rather than their products. And that means a stronger focus on the sale and/or licensing of their intellectual assets.


Little wonder perhaps that the theme of a recent industry event in the US was the question: “Are


148 World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2013


we all becoming trolls?” While that may seem a fanciful notion, it does underline the changes taking place in the IP industry.


A decade ago when behemoths such as Intellectual Ventures were building up massive stores of patents, their party line was that they were not looking to ‘assert’ and that their actions were directed towards helping foster innovation. Yet troll-linked litigation in the US grew fourfold between 2006 and 2011; and, in just three-and- a-half years, Acacia—an NPE which focuses


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