What Is a Patent Troll?
A patent troll is a derogatory time frame used to give an explanation for a company that uses patent infringement claims to win court docket docket judgments for money in or to stifle pageant. The time frame could also be used to give an explanation for more than a few business movements that profit from patents and the court docket docket device to become profitable.
While the apply of patent trolling is not illegal, a company that acts as a patent troll information patent claims without any intention of ever making a product or service. The result’s bad faith infringement threats and licensing requires that require corporations to spend an important amount of money to settle the ones claims without any addition to most of the people very good. A patent troll may also be referred to as a “patent shark,” “dealer,” “marketer,” or “pirate.” A patent troll operation is often referred to as a “patent observation company,” “entity,” or a “non-manufacturing patentee.”
Key Takeaways
- A patent troll exploits present structural issues throughout the U.S. patent and court docket docket systems so that you can generate source of revenue.
- Patent trolls use more than a few jail movements and loopholes that include patents and the court docket docket device to become profitable, along side filing false patent infringement claims.
- While the apply of patent trolling is not technically illegal, a company that acts as a patent troll information patent claims without any intention of ever making a product or service.
How a Patent Troll Works
A patent troll would possibly use somewhat a couple of methods and exploit jail loopholes to generate source of revenue without producing any material benefits and without any intention to use the patent in question. One analogy for a patent troll’s actions will also be earning the correct to charge tolls on a freeway without showing any kind of improvements to the roadway. Hypothetically, the patent troll would become profitable from charging large fees for the usage of the roadway or from enforcing crucial penalties for somebody who uses the road without figuring out the words of use.
Patent trolls are additional common throughout the U.S. because of patent trolls can get pleasure from present structural issues throughout the U.S. patent and court docket docket systems. Patent trolls are a lot much less prevalent in Europe because of many European global places stipulate that losers in patent claim court docket docket instances pay the jail expenses of every occasions. This has effectively eliminated a majority of frivolous lawsuits.
In June 2013, former President Barack Obama addressed the U.S. Patent and Trademark Place of work in regards to the abusive practices of patent trolls: “They don’t in fact produce the rest themselves, they’re merely taking a look to essentially leverage and hijack any person else’s thought and notice if they may be able to extort some money out of them.” In April 2014, the full ruling on the court docket docket case, Octane Well being, LLC v. ICON Neatly being & Well being, Inc., filed throughout the U.S. Final Court docket docket, made it more straightforward for courts to impose the jail expenses of every occasions on the losers in patent claim court docket docket instances someday.
The time frame patent troll may have originated from an educational video, referred to as the Patents Video, produced in 1994 by the use of Paula Natasha Chavez, a U.S. Intellectual Property Law felony skilled. The target of the video was once as soon as to alert corporations and other people to what some thought to be the weaponization of patents, along with to dissuade longer term patent trolls.
Forms of Patent Trolls
Patent trolls would possibly employ a lot of the following practices, although figuring out all the breadth of patent troll practices will also be difficult because of the more than a few methods they use:
- Implementing a patent without any intent of manufacturing a product or providing a service in line with that patent, or without using it to behaviour research, or otherwise the usage of it for the simpler very good
- Pursuing patent infringement claims which might be baseless with the intent of stifling pageant (The ones claims are in any case more straightforward and more cost effective for competing corporations to settle than to litigate.)
- Buying a patent (in most cases from a bankrupt company at auction) with the intent of suing a competing company by the use of claiming that it has a product that infringes upon the newly purchased patent
- Any utilization of a patent to implement patent rights most effective
Patent trolling may also include venue purchasing groceries. For example, in 2015, 45% of patent instances throughout the U.S. had been filed throughout the Eastern District of Texas, area to a judge with every patent revel in and a apply document of favoring plaintiffs. The U.S. Final Court docket docket’s final ruling throughout the 2017 court docket docket case, TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Staff Producers LLC, has since limited the apply of venue purchasing groceries by the use of patent trolls.
When universities or non-profit research institutions document claims for the security of unutilized patents, it isn’t in most cases thought to be an act of patent trolling.
