Google, BlackBerry EarthLink and Red Hat ask US authorities to take action against patent trolls



    The companies listed in the title the other day turned to the US Department of Justice and the US Federal Trade Commission with a request to take action against patent trolls. This term refers to companies like Lodsys, Intellectual Ventures, which use their own patents exclusively to obtain royalties and fines from other companies that allegedly violate the rights of patent holders. At the same time, “trolls” do not use their patents to create any goods, and are not going to use it.

    An appeal from Google, BlackBerry EarthLink and Red Hat to the authorities said that patent trolls caused losses for ordinary companies, and huge losses in the amount of $ 30 billion (for 2011). If we take direct and indirect losses in financial terms, then this is already $ 80 billion. A detailed 22-page document filed with the above US legislatures can be found here .

    In the report, “trolls” appear under the abbreviation PAE (patent assertion entities). In the graph below, you can see how many patent troll claims are more than ordinary patent claims. Compared to 2005, the number of such claims has quadrupled.



    Among other things, the US Congress seems to be going to take some measures against the "trolls", in any case, this topic is being actively discussed in some US media. It may well be passed a law that the “patent troll”, which loses the trial, is required to pay all legal costs for both parties.

    In addition to the well-known “trolls”, new companies are now appearing that can be attributed to the same “species”. True, large technology companies also sometimes "troll", which can be read on Habré, but small PAEs still do much more damage.

    The worst thing, according to Google, BlackBerry EarthLink and Red Hat is that even large technology companies sometimes transfer their own patents to “trolls.” In case of victory in a lawsuit, both the troll and the company that previously owned the patents receive profit. An example is Ericsson, a well-known company now experiencing financial difficulties. Ericsson has transferred 2,000 of its patents to Unwired Planet. And this company is suing everyone in a row, including Apple, Google and BlackBerry. Ericsson receives a certain amount in the event of a victory "partner".

    Now, the initiators of the fight against “patent trolls” are hoping that other partners, commercial companies and government agencies will join their procession.

    Via techcrunch

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