IP INSIDER
Patent suits are rarely tied to marketPlace comPetition.
Consider this nugget from the PwC
study: Of the ten largest patent litigation awards handed out between 2005
and 2008, only three went to patent
holders that compete with the alleged
infringers. That shows how IP rights
are increasingly being valued for their
revenue-generating potential—and not
just by classic patent trolls, but also by
research universities and large companies with stand-alone patent-licensing
units. Frenkel’s blog offered a glimpse
of the rules of this game—and who the
players are.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
SAFE & SECURE
To lock in the value of your high technology
transParency is still lacking.
Historically, it’s been extremely difficult
to uncover even basic facts about patent
plaintiffs lining up for their day in court.
How difficult? It took “several hundred
man hours” for PwC to put together its
study, Barry says. With many plaintiffs
suing via shell companies, patent litigation can look less like inventors demanding just rewards, and more like shady
operators seeking an easy payday.
Most people believe true innovators
deserve compensation, and understand
that patents can help them get it. But
to a lot of tech industry insiders who
learned the details of patent litigation
by reading the Patent Troll Tracker, the
system felt broken, if not corrupt. The
PwC study doesn’t do anything to dispel that feeling. —JOe MullIn
or software R&D investment, the key can
be Bereskin & Parr LLP. From sound advice
Patent holder
median damages awarded:
to securing patents to enforcing rights,
we help safeguard the leading-edge IP assets of
many of the world’s most original thinkers.
www.bereskinparr.com 1.888.364.7311
TORONTO MISSISSAUGA WATERLOO MONTRÉAL
O Nonpracticing Entities
vs.
O Practicing Entities
$12.0
Median damages awarded (in $M)
$5.2 $5.1
$3.4
1995–2001 2002–2008
Source: A Closer Look: Patent Litigation Trends
and the Increasing Impact of Nonpracticing Entities,
PricewaterhouseCoopers, January 2010
