Patent lawsuits have been growing rapidly, with a 40% increase in lawsuits filed by patent trolls be

Patent trolls build up their portfolio by purchasing patents from bankrupt companies or individuals with insufficient funds to profit williamsburg outlet from their discoveries. Whilst patent trolls or patent assertion entities (PAE) have won lawsuits against larger companies, PAEs generally target smaller companies with sales below $10 million, as they do not have the financial means to defend themselves in court.
As many patents are too vague or technical to be understood, litigation involving patents are extremely complex as it is difficult to ascertain what constitutes an infringement. Furthermore, a clear precedent has yet to be formed for cases regarding ambiguous williamsburg outlet patents and the sheer volume of patents alone leaves many companies unsure if they are violating intellectual property.
Patent lawsuits have been growing rapidly, with a 40% increase in lawsuits filed by patent trolls between 2007 and 2011 alone. The 2013 patent litigation williamsburg outlet study by PricewaterhouseCoopers found that biotech, software, williamsburg outlet computer hardware and telecommunication industries have seen a 300-500% increase in patent lawsuits, no doubt some of which is attributed to the rise in patent trolls.
These past years have seen the major players in the technology industries both fending off patent lawsuits and filing them. Patent trolls have also found it profitable to target big tech companies such as AT&T, Samsung and Verizon. In 2013, AT&T fought around 70 cases, Google was dealt 43 suits, Verizon, 42, Apple 41 and Samsung and Amazon were hit with 39 each.
As patent williamsburg outlet ownership becomes increasingly profitable, williamsburg outlet companies could become inclined williamsburg outlet towards investing in patent portfolios. Conversant, a patent williamsburg outlet licensing firm with US$100 million in revenue, has acquired more than 12,500 patents and tech-companies like Google and Facebook continue to purchase patents williamsburg outlet from their competitors Microsoft and Nokia. A CURRENT PATENT TROLL VRINGO
Vringo is a great example of a recent patent troll that switched from producing video ringtones williamsburg outlet to buying williamsburg outlet and leveraging patents. Back in 2011, the company purchased two patents related to an old search engine Lycos, which it then promptly used to sue Google. The jury found Google guilty of infringement of the two patents relating to the ranking and placement of ads, and was ordered to compensate Vringo a total of $30 million. In addition, Vringo was entitled to a royalty on top of the damages. During February 2014, the courts decided that the revamped williamsburg outlet AdWords system still replicated some elements of the old AdWords, and therefore williamsburg outlet the plaintiff was awarded a 1.36% running royalty on Google s U.S.-based AdWords revenue.
Similarly last year, Vringo sued Microsoft williamsburg outlet over their search engine s ads, which Microsoft opted to settle and paid $1 million for the infringement. Currently, Vringo is in the middle williamsburg outlet of a lawsuit against China s ZTE, and ADT among others. On top of all these lawsuits, Vringo has recently purchased 500 patents williamsburg outlet and patent applications from the ailing former mobile heavyweight Nokia for $22 million. RESTRAINTS ON RISING PATENT TROLLS williamsburg outlet
It appears that patent lawsuits are becoming increasingly popular, and changes williamsburg outlet in legislation have been the most successful solution to control its growth. The 2011 America williamsburg outlet Invents Act has forced williamsburg outlet PAEs to file multiple lawsuits if they seek to sue multiple unrelated companies, which drives up the cost of excessive litigation.
Since the legislation has been passed, williamsburg outlet the number of unique companies sued by PAES has dropped from the 4,500 in 2011. This has slowed, but not necessarily stopped the rising trend of patent lawsuits. Similarly, patent prices and transfers have declined in 2013 as the SHIELD Act gained momentum.
With annual litigation costs estimated at $29 billion a year, patent trolls have contributed up to two-thirds of all patent related lawsuits. Given the impact on both large and small business, the United States course of action has been to propose bills to discourage law suits. It has been recently proposed that the SHIELD Act should force patent trolls to cover both parties legal fees if there is no patent infringement or the patent is invalid.
One of the many concerns is that this phenomenon will discourage research if investors are uncertain whether there is a market interested in purchasing their patents or a business model based on licensing their patents. THE FUTURE OF PATENT TROLLS
There may be hope for companies and the public williamsburg outlet as anti-patent troll bills is being passed in several states within America, although it is limited to extent that such behavior cannot be continuously regulated by the states. However, the subsequent banning of faith patent assertions williamsburg outlet limits the possible violation of the consumer-protection laws.
A perfect solution to restrain patent trolls has yet to be developed, but America s rapid adoption of bills suggests williamsburg outlet that there is sufficient political support to stop patent trol