Hello everyone!
Hope you all had a great spring break! For assignment #8 we were asked to look into Patent trolls. For my first blog post, I want to take a closer look and define what NPEs and patent trolls are to build a good foundation. Hope you enjoy!
What is a non-practicing entity?
A non-practiciting entity is any entity that makes the majority of its revenue from the enforcement or licensing of its patents. A non-practicing entity does not sell any sort of product or service, besides the licensing of their patents. However, because they do not infringe on the patent rights in other patent portfolios, they are immune to counter assertion (a differing point of view that deals more with an idea or belief, not always backed up by fact). They can be individual inventors, universities and both small and large patent aggregators. The reason they are called patent trolls tend to be because their only purpose is to grab patents and use them against companies that manufacture similar products. Generally, patent troll has a negative connotation attached to it.
What are the main function of the NPE?
The main function of the non-practicing entity are as follows:
- NPE has patents but do not produce the product of service based on the patent
- Buy patents from one company to sue other companies (by saying that their patent is being infringed)
- Implements patent rights through licenses or litigation
- Main objective to implement patent rights using the actual patents themselves
What types of NPEs are there?
Additionally, there are also many different types of Non-patent entities. The first type is often inventors who do not want to be involved in the development, manufacturing or the sales of their inventions. This may be because they do not have the resources or the interest so instead they set out to license their inventions to others who have the ability to produce the product of service. Other times, they can choose to just sell the patents outright completely to not be involved in the process what so ever.
Other types of NPE’s may be companies whose sole purpose is to license patents aggressively. Some companies may acquire patents and aggressively license them to others while other companies use their own patents to license. However, regardless, non-patent entities present a different type of perspective and challenge than traditional operating company patent assertions.
What is the difference between NPEs and Practicing Entities?
A non- practicing entity and a practicing entity both have patent ownership, but it is only the practicing entity that actually sells the product or service. NPEs, like explained above, acquire patents with the purpose of enforcing the patents against the practicing entities. Typically, practicing entities get their patents through research and development whereas NPEs get their patents from inventors and other companies who no longer want or need them.
Hope this gave you a better understanding of this topic. Thanks for reading! :)
Great online of NPEs. You did a great job of defining what a patent troll is. You also delved into the different types of NPEs and their intentions. Lastly, I like how you include the difference between practicing and non practicing entities.
ReplyDeleteHi Gabrielle,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the succinct outline of the patent troll. I think I have a really good understanding of what they are now. I feel like you did a good job of going beyond the surface level for this post and I really appreciate it.
Hey Gabrielle,
ReplyDeleteEchoing Kris, I agree that you did a good job going beyond surface level. You addressed points that I myself had touched on only briefly during research & I feel your points were brief, but informative. My only suggestion is to potentially think about bullet points, just for briefer/still informative points; paragraph is fine, that's just a personal preference :)
Hey Gabby,
ReplyDeleteGreat post. You have clearly done a great job defining what NPEs are, and really helped me further learn what patent trolls do and are. I also like how you were so informative about everything. However, one way to improve your points would be to number them, so that it would be easier to follow. Otherwise, great job!
Hi Gabby,
ReplyDeleteVery comprehensive post! It is obvious that you understand what an NPE is, what they do, and the different types of NPEs. It definitely helped me fill in any gaps I had about NPEs.
Gabby,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job of explicitly outlining what you believed to be the main functions of patent trolls. It might be interesting to also look at the role they play in the market - in some ways they are good!
Sasha
Gabby,
ReplyDeleteI also agree that you did a fantastic job going beyond the surface level of each topic to offer readers a deeper understanding of NPEs and how they function. I found your blog incredibly informative. Great job as always!