Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Login

|

How Sun Tzu Would Outflank Patent Trolls

David Wanetick
IncreMental Advantage, Managing Director, Princeton, NJ, USA

Much has been written about strategies employed by patent trolls. Many have opined about the tax they represent to operating companies. Others have lauded trolls for providing markets where inventors can sell their patents for reasonable returns. This article will focus on strategies— many from Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military strategist—that operating companies can utilize to outflank patent trolls.

Threat Assessment. PatentFreedom reports that as of December 1, 2009, there were over 315 distinct patent trolls lurking around the world. Since 1985, these trolls have been involved in litigation with nearly 4,500 different operating companies in over 3,100 distinct actions.

Much of this litigation is taking place before juries—who are generally sympathetic to patentees—rather than before judges. According to research conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, where juries decided 22 percent of the patent cases with damages awards in the 1990s, the 2000s have seen juries decide 43 percent of the patent cases with damages awards. The success rates for plaintiffs in jury trials have consistently and significantly outperformed plaintiff success rates in bench trials every year from 1997 until at least 2007.

Latest