My partner Anthony Fuga is providing excellent analysis on the latest Section 101 cases and issues at the Holland & Knight Section 101 Blog, which he edits and does a substantial amount of the writing for. His latest post provides valuable insight into how district courts are approaching Section 101 cases since the Federal
Slowing Patent Trolls: RPX’s OPEN
RPX has begun a new, free program – OPEN – that seeks to increase transparency in the patent marketplace, while also reducing transaction costs and shrinking the troll marketplace. Members of OPEN agree to provide RPX and OPEN members 45 day notice before selling any patent to a troll. That gives OPEN members and/or RPX
Patent Reform Roundup
The following post is from my Holland & Knight colleague Anthony Fuga. Anthony regularly works with me defending retailers and their supply chains against patent infringement demands, and he is a period contributor to the Retail Patent Litigation Blog. Also, please note that one of the articles Anthony discusses references RPX. In the interest
Patent Reform: Patent Office Reaches Out to Troll Targets
As a step in carrying out President Obama’s effort to curb abusive patent troll litigation, the Patent Office has created a valuable resource center for targets of patent troll suits and demand letters, although they refer to it as “abusive patent litigation.” The site has considerable value for retailers, both those facing their first
Retailers Require a Market-Based Solution to the Patent Troll Problem
Professor 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
FTC and DOJ Turn a Spotlight on Patent Trolls
The 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,
Can Massive Troll Costs Prompt Meaningful Patent Reform?
Last 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
Trolls Cost Society $29 Billion – With a “B”- in 2011
The 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
Patent Trolls: Know Them When You See Them
In the lead up to a recent Stratford Publications CLE program that I gave regarding troll-proofing your business and defense strategies for troll cases, I received an interesting and earnest question about what a patent troll was. The question was unique in that it carefully laid out arguments on both sides and was not fueled
Retailer Patent Litigation News: Arbitration, Patent Trolls and the ITC
I 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