Santa Clara Law Professor Colleen Chien recently wrote an interesting article on Patently-O discussing some key patent troll statistics in light of President Obama’s troll comments and the new SHIELD Act. Here are some of the key takeaways for retailers: In 2012, trolls filed 62% of patent litigations – 2,921 of 4,701 suits. Retailers are… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Industry Issues
Subscribe to Industry Issues RSS FeedWill the SHIELD Act Have the Impact Retailers Expect?
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsRetailers have been generally excited about the loser pays system the proposed SHIELD Act would create for trolls. But a recent iam blog discussing comments from Patent Freedom suggests the SHIELD Act may not have the impact many retailers expect. According to Patent Freedom: 75% of trolls are asserting only patents originally assigned to them… Continue Reading
Inventors Get Small Portion of Publicly Traded Patent Troll Revenues
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsBoston University School of Law Professors James Bessen and Michael Meurer wrote an insightful article at Patently-O looking at the ten publicly listed patent trolls from 2005 until 2010, including many well known to retailers such as Acacia. Here are some of their findings: Licensing revenues for the six year period was $68B. The mean… Continue Reading
The SHIELD Act is Back Promising a Loser Pays System for Retailers
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsThe SHIELD Act – Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes — is back. The SHIELD Act was originally introduced in the last Congress and would have awarded costs, including reasonable attorney’s fees, to a prevailing defendant when, upon completion of the case, a Court held that the patentholder’s case had not had a reasonable likelihood… Continue Reading
President Obama Addresses the Patent Troll “Problem”
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsWith a hat tip to Dennis Crouch at Patently-O, President Obama recently addressed the patent troll “problem” as part of a Google Fireside Hangout. The patent troll question and the President’s answer start shortly after the 16:00 mark of the following video: President Obama’s answer is straightforward and focused upon addressing the problem. Here are… Continue Reading
PWC: Patent Litigation on the Rise
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent Litigation TipsPWC’s most recent patents litigation study – “A Look Behind the Rising Numbers in US Patent Litigation: Macro Trends, Causes, and Implementations” – tells a story that every litigator knows, patent litigation is on the rise. And the America Invents Act (“AIA”) has done little about the problem. Here are some key takeaways from PWC’s… Continue Reading
Retailers Require a Market-Based Solution to the Patent Troll Problem
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsProfessor Colleen Chien from Santa Clara Law spoke at the December 10 DOJ/FTC troll conference. As a follow up to the conference, she offered IAM Magazine her thoughts attempting to put our current troll situation, which she acknowledges is “disruptive” for business, with two other historical periods of increased troll activity involving railroads and sewing… Continue Reading
FTC and DOJ Turn a Spotlight on Patent Trolls
Posted in Industry Issues, Legal Seminars, Patent TrollsThe Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are teaming up to look at the patent troll problem. Initially, the FTC and the DOJ are seeking public comment regarding the impact of trolls (or “patent assertion entities”). You can send public comments to ATR.LPS-PAEPublicComments@usdoj.gov until March 10, 2013. In addition to seeking public comments, the FTC… Continue Reading
Does the Patent System Legitimize Trolls?
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsChicago-Kent Professor David Schwartz and University of Illinois Jay Kesan have written a thought-provoking article looking at what empirical data tells us about trolls (click here for their Patently-O summary of the article). Blog readers will remember that Schwartz has recently written an interesting article analyzing the empirical characteristics of trolls and their counsel —… Continue Reading
Can Massive Troll Costs Prompt Meaningful Patent Reform?
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent Litigation TipsLast week, I wrote about the findings in an article from Boston University analyzing some excellent and thought-provoking data from RPX and the Coalition for Patent Fairness. I also looked at takeaways for retailers. While the data identifies some interesting trends, the most valuable role of the article is acting as a wake up call… Continue Reading
Trolls Cost Society $29 Billion – With a “B”- in 2011
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent Litigation TipsThe scholars of Boston University have provided another thought-provoking analysis of the costs of patent troll litigation. The article is backed by some excellent and thought-provoking data from RPX and the Coalition for Patent Fairness. For context, this is what the article says about the state of patent troll litigation: There were 5,842 patent troll… Continue Reading
SHIELD Act: A Step Towards Patent Troll Litigation Reform?
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent Litigation TipsMeaningful patent troll reform may finally be on the horizon. Last year retailers across the country had high hopes for patent reform. Unfortunately, the version of the America Invents Act that was signed into law by President Obama in September 2011 offered little or no help in stopping or even significantly slowing patent trolls. But… Continue Reading
How the AIA is Changing Patent Rights for Retailers, Part II – Challenges and Validity Issues
Posted in Industry IssuesBefore the enactment of the American Invents Act (“AIA”), I identified four key provisions of the new law that will impact retailers. My colleague Daniel Farris provided some additional depth into the effects of the AIA on retailers, particularly with respect to the patent prosecution process and creation of patent rights – the first in… Continue Reading
Actual Patent Reform: Addressing the Patent Troll Problem
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsAndy Kessler, a former hedge fund manager and the author of “Eat People”, has a compelling opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) arguing for further patent reform to reign in the damage patent tolls are doing to the economy. As I have discussed many times, last year’s patent reform (the America Invents… Continue Reading
Retailer Patent Litigation News: Arbitration, Patent Trolls and the ITC
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsI have been holding a number of news stories and blog posts that will be valuable to retailers, but did not warrant a full blog post. So, what follows are links to those and some thoughts on why you will find them valuable: Federal Circuit Reaffirms Power of Arbitration Clauses. David Healey at PatentMath looks… Continue Reading
How the AIA is Changing Patent Rights for Retailers
Posted in Industry IssuesBefore the enactment of the American Invents Act (“AIA”), I identified four key provisions of the new law that will impact retailers. I have asked my colleague Daniel Farris to provide details regarding what retailers need to know about the rest of the AIA. Daniel is a part of my retail patent litigation team with… Continue Reading
Retailers Face Increasing Patent Troll Exposure Despite Positive Patent Litigation Trends
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsPWC just released its 2011 Patent Litigation Study — a must-read for any retailer regularly facing patent troll litigation. The study tells us somethings that we already: the number of patent suits is increasing and a disproportionate percentage of cases continue to be brought by patent trolls. The study also shows that the average patent… Continue Reading
Senate Passes the America Invents Act: Patent Reform Headed to the White House
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsThe Senate passed the America Invents Act (the “AIA”) this evening without amendment. So, patent reform is headed to the White House where President Obama is expected to sign the AIA into law within the next two weeks. Based upon that, I will be following up my post from earlier today identifying four key provisions of… Continue Reading
What Patent Reform Means for Retailers: 4 Key Provisions of the America Invent Act
Posted in Industry Issues, Patent TrollsThe patent blogs are abuzz with detailed analysis of cloture votes and Senate procedure. I will not repeat what my colleagues have already ably done — Patently-O and Patent Docs are two examples. The critical take-away is that the Senate has limited debate on the House version of the America Invents Act, H.R. 1249, (the… Continue Reading
Retail: A definition in transition
Posted in Industry IssuesOne of the interesting facets of retail patent litigation is understanding what “retail” means. It used to be simple — brick and mortar stores and their suppliers (which were usually manufacturers as well). Today, the definition is much less clear. Between the internet, a more global marketplace and the intense specialization of many businesses, the… Continue Reading
Patent Reform (Almost) Arrives
Posted in Industry IssuesToday the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1249 the America Invents Act. The Senate passed a version of the bill (S. 23) earlier this year, but because there are significant differences in the two bills, the America Invents Act is headed to a joint conference where the differences have to be ironed out before the… Continue Reading
Is Post-Grant Patent Review Coming to the Retail Industry?
Posted in Industry IssuesAs patent reform looks increasingly likely, the retail industry is beginning to look at how patent reform will impact the retail supply chain. Earlier this week, the National Retail Foundation (“NRF”) wrote to Congress supporting Section 18 of H.R. 1249 which creates a post-grant, adversary proceeding for challenging the validity of patents at the Patent… Continue Reading
Retail Patent Litigation
Posted in Industry IssuesWelcome to the Retail Patent Litigation blog. Many have asked me why after five successful years of blogging at my Chicago IP Litigation blog I would start another blog. Ultimately, I am starting this blog for the same reason I started (and will continue writing) the Chicago IP Litigation blog. I have an active patent… Continue Reading
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