Last Friday, Google,
along with Blackberry, EarthLink and Red Hat, appealed to the Federal Trade
Commission and Department of Justice to take stronger action against companies
like Lodsys, Intellectual Ventures, and other “patent assertion entities”. They
believe those companies abuse patents for financial gain and are an increasing
detriment to the technology industry, costing U.S. companies alone nearly $30
billion in 2011 and $80 billion when accounting for all costs-direct and
indirect. This reminds me news I got last week about how Nokia sold its 125
patents to the patent holding company, Pendrell Corp. I wonder if Pendrell will
use those patents as a patent troll later. According to Matthew Bye, Google’s senior
competitor adviser, patent speculation hurts the interests of consumers and
patent trolls targeted more to the small companies, which hampering innovation
and undermine competition in the market.
I
think patent troll are key product from patent war. As the global smartphone market size expands, competition
among the various mobile phone Giants are becoming more brutal. Apple and his
rivals agreed that even if one of the most unassuming but very unique features
in the phone might have been able to allow certain companies to gain a crucial advantage
in the competition. Thus, they invested heavily in the research-related technologies;
at the same time, they fight patent wars around the world to safeguard their
rights, with dozens of patents to prevent competitors’ products. The only goal
is forcing competitors to give up or to purchase related patent licensing.
However, their practices also tell patent troll that patent war contains huge portent
to make money. I admit that Google and other companies’ actions are right to
fix the serious problems in the existing patent system. Nevertheless,
should they all think about who start this war, and who let patent troll see
that there is easy free lunch to take? I think when smartphone companies should
introspect themselves when they criticize patent troll.
I agree that there should be much stricter laws and harsher punishments for patent trolls. It is ridiculous that they are costing companies millions of dollars to fight something that they shouldn't be doing. Patent trolls without a doubt slow down the entire technology industry.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the news where Nokia sold its 125 patents to a patent holding company, it makes me wonder if it was really simply Nokia selling its patents to another company, or perhaps there were some other "under table" business between Nokia and Pendrell Corp. I agree with you that it is because of how the giants start the war, patent trolls see the opportunities to earn some money. It's like a cycle that never ends...never ends well for sure.
ReplyDeleteI see what Angela is saying. It is almost hypocritical at this point for any tech company to sell their patents toa patent holding company for revenue... it just goes to show how little integrity these companies have
ReplyDeletethese patent trolls exist as "inefficient entities" and really are bugs that need to be removed in order to uphold the values of the patent system.
ReplyDeleteThe government is definitely starting to take these "trolls" more seriously. However, it could just be a risky strategy to damage the rivals by keeping the coveted patents away from them and selling to NPEs.
ReplyDelete