Litigation as a Source of Profit? Non-Practicing Entities and Patent Litigation

Patent Infringement Claimant: COVID-19 Research Facilitator, Patent Troll, or Both?

In response to the global outbreak of COVID-19, many countries have been racing to develop vaccines and test existing drugs to fight the pandemic. On March 9th, 2020, Labrador Diagnostics LLC (“Labrador”), an entity owned by Fortress Investment Group LLC (“Fortress”), which is funded by Softbank, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against BioFire Diagnostics LLC, […]

Advances in Securing the Bridge to Innovation: Recent Progress on Combating Patent Trolls

Over the last decade, patent trolls have become a prominent intellectual property (IP) issue. Patent trolls are companies that exploit IP as tools for litigation instead of innovation, using purchased patents to threaten other companies to enter into a licensing deal or face a patent infringement lawsuit.  Companies targeted by patent trolls can face huge […]

Robotic Trolls

I’m increasingly inclined to think that there should be some regulatory oversight, maybe at the national and international level, just to make sure that we don’t do something very foolish. I mean with artificial intelligence we’re summoning the demon. – Elon Musk In light of the quote above, the thought of demonic robot trolls may […]

Patent Trolls or Patent Heroes? – The Increasing Pressure on Patent Assertion Entities

On July 13, 2013, the New York Times published an article on Erich Spangenberg's business enterprise, IPNav, which is considered to be one of the largest Patent Assertion Entities (“P.A.E.s”) in the world. Analyzing the business model of P.A.E.s is important to understanding the legal limits of these entities.

17 Year-Old Patent Causing Problems for Podcasters

Is a podcast analogous to a cassette tape recording of a magazine article? Jim Logan of Personal Audio thinks that it is, and that it thereby infringes his patent.

Patent Auctions not the Solution for Patent Trolls

Amanda Carpenter is a JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. On September 21, 2009, The New York Times featured an article entitled “Patent Auctions Offer Protections to Inventors”. This article is about the story of a small-inventor firm called Zoltar Satellite Alarm Systems and their battles with big corporations over its patented inventions.  In […]

High-tech patent litigation study: NPEs and others

In her research paper titled "Of Trolls, Davids, Goliaths, and Kings: Narratives and evidence in the litigation of high-tech patents," Assistant Professor Colleen V. Chien, at Santa Clara University School of Law, provides a snapshot of U.S. patent litigation that could not only inform current efforts to reform the patent system, but could also serve […]