What are Patent Trolls? Patent trolls are people or companies that own patents portfolios and simply license the patents to other entities rather than produce the products themselves, and then they usually sue companies that do not agree to their licensing terms. Patent trolls include a party that does one or more of the following: Purchases patents from a bankrupt entities and then sue another companies involved by claiming infringement Enforces patents without intending to manufacture the patented product, Enforces patents but has no manufacturing or research base, Focuses its efforts solely on enforcing patent rights, Asserts patent infringement claims against non-copiers. Patent trolls are people or companies that conduct patent litigation against infringers in an aggressive or opportunistic manner, with no intention to manufacture or market the patented invention.
U.S news – The Town That Trolls Built
The Supreme Court ruled that patent holders can no longer choose where to file infringement suits. That’s bad news for Marshall, Texas. This is bad news for patent trolls, a.k.a. non-practicing entities, which make no products but brandish patents to sue companies for infringement. And it’s also bad news for the trolls’ long-time venue of choice, the eastern district of Texas, where thousands of patent cases are brought each year — 2,500 in 2015 alone! — 95 percent of which are initiated by non-practicing entities, according to Robin Feldman, a professor at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law. Read more – The Town That Trolls Built
Cloudflare beat a patent troll. What now?
Blackbird Technologies is a Boston and Chicago-based firm that amassed dozens of patents, then began using them to file dozens of patent infringement lawsuits against companies, including Cloudflare. The suit was typical in every way, except how Cloudflare responded to it. Rather than quietly settle, as have some targets of Blackbird and other so-called patent trolls, Cloudflare decided to fight back in a very public way, blogging extensively, talking with news outlets like ours and, most crucially, turning to anyone and everyone who could help it locate prior art. The idea wasn’t merely to invalidate the patent that Blackbird was using to sue Cloudflare — but to invalidate all of Blackbird’s patents. Cloudlfare declared war. Read more – Cloudflare beat a patent troll. What now?