Google, BlackBerry EarthLink and Red Hat ask US authorities to take action against patent trolls

The companies listed in the title the other day appealed to the US Department of Justice and the US Federal Trade Commission to take action against patent trolls. This term refers to companies like Lodsys, Intellectual Ventures, which use their own patents exclusively for obtaining license fees and fines from other companies that allegedly violate the rights of patent holders. In this case, the "trolls" do not use their patents to create any goods, and are not going to use.

In a statement from Google, BlackBerry EarthLink and Red Hat to the authorities said that patent trolls caused losses for ordinary companies, and losses were huge, in the amount of $ 30 billion (for 2011). If we assume direct and indirect losses, in financial terms, it is already 80 billion dollars. A detailed 22-page document submitted to the above US legislative bodies can be found here .
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In the report "trolls" appear under the abbreviation PAE (patent assertion entities). On the graph below, you can see how the number of lawsuits from “patent trolls” exceeds the number of regular patent lawsuits. Compared to 2005, the number of such claims has quadrupled.



Among other things, the US Congress seems to be going to take some measures against the "trolls", in any case, this topic is actively being discussed in some US media. A law may well be enacted that the “patent troll”, which loses the lawsuit, is obliged to pay all the ship's costs for both parties.

In addition to the famous "trolls" now there are all new companies that can be attributed to the same "type". True, large technology companies also sometimes "troll", which can be read on Habré, but small PAE still cause far more damage.

Worst of all, according to Google, BlackBerry EarthLink and Red Hat is that even large technology companies sometimes pass on their own patents to the "trolls." In the event of a victory in a lawsuit, the troll and the company that previously owned the patents also make a profit. An example is Ericsson, a well-known company that is currently experiencing financial difficulties. Ericsson transferred 2,000 of its patents to Unwired Planet. And this company is suing everyone, including Apple, Google and BlackBerry. Ericsson receives a certain amount in case of winning the "partner".

Now the companies initiating the fight against patent trolls are hoping that other partners, commercial companies and government agencies will join their procession.

Via techcrunch