Although perhaps not ugly green creatures lurking under bridges, “patent trolls” have nevertheless haunted companies and patent practitioners for two decades.
Using extortive practices and preying on the inability of small companies to afford patent litigation, patent trolls have perfected the art of early settlement, requiring companies to pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid more significant litigation expenses. Such a practice can be quite lucrative when it involves hundreds of potential defendants. It has certainly not gone unnoticed. Both President Barack Obama and Congressional leaders called for patent reform in 2014 to curtail these practices. A recent patent reform bill focused on addressing abusive patent litigation tactics passed in the House but died in the Senate after failed negotiations. But patent trolls have not escaped unscathed. Rather, they have recently suffered a multi-faceted attack including executive and administrative actions and judicial decisions, which may have collectively succeeded in accomplishing at least some of the goals of the failed legislative reform. The following provides an overview of such attacks.
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