RPX Corp. aims to help keep tech companies out of patent litigation.
Founded in 2008 and backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and other prominent venture capital firms, the San Francisco patent aggregator gives companies access to a shared pool of patents they can use to defend against infringement suits filed by nonpracticing entities in exchange for membership fees. But RPX doesn’t distribute the fees to members. It uses the money to buy more patents to broaden the protection it can offer to its 110 members.
