A welcome helping hand from Washington
This time the government actually is here to help. As a result, operating companies, and especially small businesses, will be increasingly able to respond effectively to the rising tide of patent monetization.
March 24, 2014 at 08:00 PM
6 minute read
Ronald Reagan always got a laugh when he said the last sentence any business owner wanted to hear was: “I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” Sometimes, though, just the opposite is true, and right now small businesses facing a barrage of non-practicing entity (NPE) letter campaigns are looking for help wherever they can get it.
The Obama administration is extending that helping hand. We at RPX were honored to be invited to participate in a White House event on Feb. 20 highlighting the one-year anniversary of the President's “call to action” to fight NPE litigation and patent abuses. There, we heard about the progress of several initiatives designed to increase patent quality and ownership transparency, including new rules from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) designed to enhance ownership information, better technical training and resources for examiners, and more collaboration with academia to disseminate data and research on abusive litigation.
A timely and practical initiative announced at the event is a new USPTO website dedicated to helping small businesses deal with the growing flood of intimidating—and often dubious—assertion letters. The site, www.uspto.gov/patentlitigation, is an “online toolkit” that contains background information designed to bring small business owners quickly up to speed on the NPE business model and patent assertions. The toolkit also includes links to a variety of Web-based services and information resources (including RPX data) that can help NPE targets determine the best response to an assertion letter.
The toolkit is a welcome and encouraging step that shows progress on the President's commitment to improve transparency and begin rationalizing the current patent ecosystem. Sharing information is the foundation of any effort to limit the costs of NPE lawsuits and litigation-based patent monetization. As the site attracts more users and becomes more robust, companies should be able to avoid or reduce the costs of many of the onerous and expensive responses to patents being asserted. Today, defendants of a single NPE campaign are typically paying for separate and parallel efforts to assess their risk from the claim, seriousness of the assertion, prior art searches and more. A centralized information resource can eliminate that duplication of legal effort.
That said, I should note that some observers have been underwhelmed by the launch and think the toolkit is a little light on functionality. But while the site—like many initial steps toward a long-term solution—has room for improvement, I see the glass as half full and applaud the USPTO for taking a concrete first step toward a key Obama administration goal. I also fully expect the site to keep improving. It's not difficult to envision that versions 2.0-plus of the site can include a truly interactive, tactical platform offering everything from crowd-sourced patent threat assessment and patent dossiers to centralized prior art data and more.
For now, though, I'm especially encouraged that the site is proving that the USPTO and private industry can collaborate to achieve shared goals. As the larger debate about patent reform grows more serious on Capitol Hill, we are pleased to see that policymakers recognize that transparency and sharing resources can reduce the cost and risk of NPE assertions.
This time the government actually is here to help. As a result, operating companies, and especially small businesses, will be increasingly able to respond effectively to the rising tide of patent monetization.
Ronald Reagan always got a laugh when he said the last sentence any business owner wanted to hear was: “I'm from the government and I'm here to help.” Sometimes, though, just the opposite is true, and right now small businesses facing a barrage of non-practicing entity (NPE) letter campaigns are looking for help wherever they can get it.
The Obama administration is extending that helping hand. We at RPX were honored to be invited to participate in a White House event on Feb. 20 highlighting the one-year anniversary of the President's “call to action” to fight NPE litigation and patent abuses. There, we heard about the progress of several initiatives designed to increase patent quality and ownership transparency, including new rules from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) designed to enhance ownership information, better technical training and resources for examiners, and more collaboration with academia to disseminate data and research on abusive litigation.
A timely and practical initiative announced at the event is a new USPTO website dedicated to helping small businesses deal with the growing flood of intimidating—and often dubious—assertion letters. The site, www.uspto.gov/patentlitigation, is an “online toolkit” that contains background information designed to bring small business owners quickly up to speed on the NPE business model and patent assertions. The toolkit also includes links to a variety of Web-based services and information resources (including RPX data) that can help NPE targets determine the best response to an assertion letter.
The toolkit is a welcome and encouraging step that shows progress on the President's commitment to improve transparency and begin rationalizing the current patent ecosystem. Sharing information is the foundation of any effort to limit the costs of NPE lawsuits and litigation-based patent monetization. As the site attracts more users and becomes more robust, companies should be able to avoid or reduce the costs of many of the onerous and expensive responses to patents being asserted. Today, defendants of a single NPE campaign are typically paying for separate and parallel efforts to assess their risk from the claim, seriousness of the assertion, prior art searches and more. A centralized information resource can eliminate that duplication of legal effort.
That said, I should note that some observers have been underwhelmed by the launch and think the toolkit is a little light on functionality. But while the site—like many initial steps toward a long-term solution—has room for improvement, I see the glass as half full and applaud the USPTO for taking a concrete first step toward a key Obama administration goal. I also fully expect the site to keep improving. It's not difficult to envision that versions 2.0-plus of the site can include a truly interactive, tactical platform offering everything from crowd-sourced patent threat assessment and patent dossiers to centralized prior art data and more.
For now, though, I'm especially encouraged that the site is proving that the USPTO and private industry can collaborate to achieve shared goals. As the larger debate about patent reform grows more serious on Capitol Hill, we are pleased to see that policymakers recognize that transparency and sharing resources can reduce the cost and risk of NPE assertions.
This time the government actually is here to help. As a result, operating companies, and especially small businesses, will be increasingly able to respond effectively to the rising tide of patent monetization.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllInside Track: How 2 Big Financial Stories—an Antitrust Case and a Megamerger—Became Intertwined
CLOs Still Jazzed About Gen Al, Even as They Realize Successfully Implementing It Is Harder Than It Looks
2 minute readAT&T General Counsel Joins ADM Board as Company Reels From Accounting Scandal
How Gen AI Is Changing Legal Work for In-House Counsel
Trending Stories
- 1Trump's Return to the White House: The Legal Industry Reacts
- 2Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 3Climate Disputes, International Arbitration, and State Court Limitations for Global Issues
- 4Election 2024: Nationwide Judicial Races and Ballot Measures to Watch
- 5Judicial Face-Off: Navigating the Ethical and Efficient Use of AI in Legal Practice [CLE Pending]
- 6How Much Does the Frequency of Retirement Withdrawals Matter?
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250