This is my third post about patent trolls. This time it’s simply to point you in the direction of an interesting series of posts by the IPKat.
The IPKat is an intellectual property blog that started in 2003 and is recommended reading for anyone interested in general IP. They have published a series of three blog posts that provide some interesting insights on patent trolls in the US, UK and Europe, and provide links to much more related content – so if you’re interested in the issue then you will find lots of reading material!
Here you will find a link to the third post, which links back to the first two, and the other sources.
Interesting points to note are:
- In 2012, patent trolls filed 56% of patent infringement cases in the US.
- In the UK, less than 6% of patent cases involve a patent troll.
- Taking Europe as a whole, the existence of separate national courts makes patent litigation more complex and therefore less lucrative for patent trolls.
- Patent courts in Europe are not as “patentee-friendly” as those in Europe, and in Europe the loser of a patent case will have to pay the costs of the other side, which is different from the US system.
- The upcoming unified patent court (UPC) will take away the existing fragmentation and so on the face of it could encourage more patent troll activity in Europe – but this will not necessarily follow because of the other more general factors of the upcoming court system.
Happy reading!
Pete
*(sorry!)