As we have been focused on patent trolls in the last couple of blog posts, I will now discuss the different types of NPE's.
To recap my last blog, NPE's are defined by PatentFreedom as entities that do not infringe on the patents rights contained in other patent portfolios and are also not vulnerable to the threat of counter assertion, (the most important defensive tactics in measuring patent disputes).
One type of NPE involves investors who fail to manufacture, sell, or develop the invention that they patented. This may be for reasons that they cannot afford to, lack certain resources, or perhaps because they chose not to pursue the venture. In this case, the inventor licenses the patent to other people or even sells the patent to someone else.
Another type of NPE involves patents that firms buy so that they can license them out. Almost 25% of NPE's fall into this category of acquired patents, while 60% are patents originally assigned to them, and 15% are a blend between the two.
One final type of NPE involves people who invest in research and development but do not see positive sales results high enough to sustain the business. Therefore, these people utilize NPE's in order to get some money through licensing fees from patents.
Patent trolls have reportedly costed the United States over $29 billion, and the actions of people involved with NPE's are really hurting the patent system. Please refer to this link for more information, as I found it to be extremely helpful in my analysis: https://www.patentfreedom.com/about-npes/background/
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