RPX offers patent trolls insurance to startups

Patent trolls have been written many times. These companies take away very significant, sometimes six-figure sums from their victims. It is very difficult to protect oneself from a patent troll, and not all companies bring the matter to court, agreeing to pay the required amount voluntarily. Patent trolls are still alive and well, despite all attempts to end this practice on the part of legislative bodies and large corporations.

Nevertheless, there are new methods of protection, and very original ones. Such methods are used by RPX, which is sometimes referred to as the "patent defense aggregator". The company's business is to provide expensive memberships to various companies seeking protection from patent trolls. After signing a contract with such a company, RPX specialists buy out patents from third parties and companies that can be used against the company that subscribed to RPX. This is called “proactive redemption of patents.”
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This business is very profitable, and only this year RPX will make a profit of 56 million from 256 million of revenue. Such profits allow the company to expand its business. And RPX is now offering an interesting service: patent trolls insurance. By paying an annual fee, the client receives a guarantee of damages from the RPX, in case of financial losses due to the actions of the patent troll.

Now the total number of patent litigation cases involving patent trolls is about 60% of all patent litigation cases. In the second quarter of this year, only in the US, patent trolls initiated 855 court cases. It is clear that companies want protection against trolls and damages related to claims.

Recently, RPX offered a new service for companies whose income is less than 20 million per year. The annual insurance premium from such companies is 7500-10000 US dollars. At the same time, RPX is going to insure even companies that only need to receive income, and now they are on self-sufficiency.

If a patent troll starts suing a client of a company, RPX covers all court costs and expenses.

As for large companies with an income of more than 20 million per year, the contributions for them are 25 thousand per year.

Of course, it would be good if the patent trolls were dealt with once and for all at the legislative level. But it seems that this situation in the market will continue for a long time, and therefore the methods of protection will be increasingly unusual.

Via arstechnica