As interest grows across a number of constituencies on how to solve the perceived problem created by patent assertion entities less euphemistically known as "patent trolls" one FTC commissioner cautioned Wednesday that his agency should not be too quick to flex its antitrust muscle.
Joshua D. Wright, a recent Republican appointee to the Federal Trade Commission, said the history of antitrust law is replete with evidence that the temptation to condemn new business models can be quite strong. But Wright, who was speaking at an antitrust seminar hosted at Dechert in Philadelphia, said it shouldn’t be forgotten that the FTC solves competition problems, it doesn’t regulate contractual or licensing disputes. The economist, attorney and academic said there is simply not enough empirical evidence to show one way or another whether patent assertion entities, or PAEs, support innovation or stifle it to the point that they run afoul of antitrust law.
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