An Overview of the "Patent Trolls" Debate
Brian T. Yeh
Legislative Attorney
August 20, 2012
Congressional Research Service
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An Overview of the "Patent Trolls" Debate
Summary
Congress has recently demonstrated significant ongoing interest in litigation by “patent assertion
entities” (PAEs), which are colloquially known as “patent trolls” and sometimes referred to as
“non-practicing entities” (NPEs). The PAE business model focuses not on developing or
commercializing patented inventions but on buying and asserting patents, often against firms that
have already begun using the claimed technology after developing it independently, unaware of
the PAE patent. PAEs include not only freestanding businesses but patent holding subsidiaries,
affiliates, and shells of operating companies that want to participate in the PAE industry and/or a
new means of countering competitors. The proliferation of PAEs was among the central factors
raised in support of the most recent patent reform legislation, the Leahy-Smith America Invents
Act of 2011 (AIA). However, the AIA contains relatively few provisions that arguably might
impact PAEs, apparently because of lively debate over what, if anything, should be done about
them. Recently, the Saving High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHIELD) Act
of 2012 (H.R. 6245) was introduced in an effort to affect the number of lawsuits filed by PAEs.
PAEs emerged alongside the burgeoning tech industry around the turn of the 21st century and
gained notoriety with lawsuits claiming exclusive ownership of such ubiquitous technologies as
wireless email, digital video streaming, and the interactive Web. They have had the attention of
Congress, the press, and the public since at least 2006, when a successful PAE suit almost caused
the shutdown of BlackBerry wireless service. Such victories in court are rare for PAEs; they lose
92 percent of merits judgments. But few cases make it that far. The vast majority of defendants
settle because patent litigation is risky, disruptive, and expensive, regardless of the merits; and
many PAEs set royalty demands strategically well below litigation costs to make the business
decision to settle an obvious one. For most PAEs, the costs of litigating and losing are more than
offset by the licensing fees they can gain by demonstrating their tenacity to future defendants.
PAEs generated $29 billion in revenues from defendants and licensees in 2011, a 400 percent
increase over $7 billion in 2005, and some researchers suggest these costs are primarily
deadweight, with less than 25 percent flowing to support innovation and at least that much going
towards legal fees. Critics assert that they undermine the purposes of patent law—promoting
innovation by providing incentives to invest in development and commercialization of
inventions—and injure companies that play a vital role in the American economy. However,
defenders of PAEs argue that they actually promote invention by adding liquidity options,
managing risk, and compensating small inventors. The Federal Trade Commission and several
leading scholars suggest that these benefits exist but are significantly less than the costs they
impose. What remains unclear is the extent of imbalance between costs and benefits and whether
Congress could recalibrate it to advance the goals of patent law while avoiding unintended
consequences.
This report reviews the current debate and controversy surrounding PAEs and their effect on
innovation, examines the reasons for the rise in PAE litigation, and explores the legislative
options available to Congress if it decides that these are issues that should be addressed.
Congressional Research Service
An Overview of the "Patent Trolls" Debate
Contents
Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 1
Patent Law Fundamentals................................................................................................................ 3
The “Patent Trolls” Controversy...................................................................................................... 4
Enforcement by PAEs................................................................................................................ 4
PAEs vs. Other Non-Practicing Entities .................................................................................... 5
The Impact on Innovation ......................................................................................................... 6
Behind the Rise of PAEs.................................................................................................................. 8
Notice Failure ............................................................................................................................ 9
Section 112 of the Patent Act..................................................................................................... 9
The Patent Thicket................................................................................................................... 10
Legislation in the 112th Congress................................................................................................... 14
Other Legislative Options.............................................................................................................. 15
IT-Specific Reform .................................................................................................................. 15
Improving Notice..................................................................................................................... 16
Reducing Leverage, Hold-Up, and Settlement Pressure ......................................................... 17
Escalating Costs or Diminishing Rights Over Time................................................................ 18
Consequences for Dormancy................................................................................................... 19
Patent Market........................................................................................................................... 19
Contacts
Author Contact Information........................................................................................................... 20
Acknowledgments ......................................................................................................................... 20
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An Overview of the "Patent Trolls" Debate
Introduction
Congress has recently demonstrated significant ongoing interest in the issue of “patent assertion
entities” (PAEs), which are popularly referred to as “patent trolls.” The Leahy-Smith America
Invents Act of 2011 (AIA) included an order for further study of PAE litigation,1 and in July 2012
both the House and the Senate held hearings regarding patent disputes at the International Trade
Commission, which has seen a surge in patent complaints as federal courts have become less
patentee-friendly after passage of the AIA in 2011 and a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2006.2
The much-publicized proliferation of PAEs was among the central factors that prompted the
AIA,3 but at the end of the day, Congress passed a few provisions arguably addressing PAEs
while leaving several other PAE-related issues unresolved, apparently in light of lively debate
over what, if anything, should be done about them.
The PAE business model focuses not on developing or commercializing technologies but on
buying and asserting patents against companies that have already begun using them, often after
independently developing them without knowledge of the PAE’s patent, according to a report by
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).4 PAEs emerged alongside the burgeoning tech industry
around the turn of the 21st century and gained notoriety with lawsuits claiming exclusive
ownership of such ubiquitous technologies as wireless email, digital video streaming, and the
interactive Web.5 They have had the attention of Congress, the press, and the public since at least
2006, when a successful PAE suit almost caused the shutdown of BlackBerry wireless service.6
Such victories in court are rare for PAEs. According to one empirical study, they lose 92 percent
of merits judgments,7 but few cases make it that far. The vast majority end in settlements because
litigation is risky, costly, and disruptive for defendants, and PAEs often offer to settle for amounts
well below litigation costs to make the business decision to settle an obvious one.8
Observers expect that the AIA will reduce the volume of meritless lawsuits, but not dramatically.
While the provisions for post-grant examination and transitional scrubbing of business method
patents will help with assertions of invalid patents, they do not address the supposed use of valid
patents to extract undue royalties from defendants that are either locked in to the patented
1 See Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, P.L. 112-29, §34 (2011) (instructing the GAO to study PAE
litigation and report back on costs, benefits, and consequences, and how to minimize any negative impact).
2 eBay, v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388 (2006); The Int’l Trade Comm’n and Patent Disputes:
Hearing Before the H. Subcomm. on Intellectual Prop., Competition, and the Internet, 112th Cong. (2012)
[hereinafter “ITC House hearing”]; Oversight of the Impact on Competition of Exclusion Orders to Enforce
Standard-Essential Patents, Hearing Before the S. Judiciary Comm., 112th Cong. (2012) [hereinafter “ITC
Senate hearing”].
3 See, e.g., Patent Trolls: Fact or Fiction?: Hearing Before the Subcomm. on Courts, the Internet, and
Intellectual Prop. of the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 109th Cong. (2006).
4 FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, THE EVOLVING IP MARKETPLACE: ALIGNING PATENT NOTICE AND
REMEDIES WITH COMPETITION 50–51 (2011) [hereinafter FTC Report].
5 See Gerard N. Magliocca, Blackberries and Barnyards: Patent Trolls and the Perils of Innovation, 82
NOTRE DAME L. REV. 1809 (2007).
6 Id.
7 John R. Allison, Mark A. Lemley & Joshua Walker, Patent Quality and Settlement Among Repeat Patent
Litigants, 99 GEO. L.J. 677, 694 (2011).
8 Id.
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technology or not infringing the patent at all. Additionally, post-grant examination is not available
for patents granted prior to the AIA, and joinder restrictions do not apply in the ITC.
Reform advocates fear that PAEs impede innovation, undermine the patent system, and wreak
havoc on businesses that play a vital role in the American economy. According to one study, PAE
activity cost defendants and licensees $29 billion in 2011, a 400 percent increase over $7 billion
in 2005, and the losses are mostly deadweight, with less than 25 percent flowing to innovation
and at least that much going towards legal fees.9 Another recent study suggests that PAE activity
could harm competition to the extent that operating companies use or “sponsor” PAEs as a means
of imposing costs on rivals and achieving other anticompetitive ends.10
Defenders of PAEs argue that they actually promote invention by increasing the liquidity and
managing the risk of investments in applied research and invention, as well as by compensating
small inventors.11 PAEs’ strongest allies include universities and other non-practicing entities that
benefit from having PAEs as buyers for their patents and are not as vulnerable to lawsuits because
they ordinarily do not make or sell anything that could be infringing.12 Other defenders of the
status quo raise concerns about unintended consequences and collateral effects of changes to the
law.
The Federal Trade Commission and numerous scholars suggest that PAE activity does indeed
have beneficial effects but that, under current law, these benefits are significantly outweighed by
the costs.13 What remains unclear is the extent of the imbalance between costs and benefits and
whether Congress should attempt to rebalance any disparity. In Section 34 of the AIA, Congress
instructed the Government Accountability Office to study the costs, benefits, and consequences of
litigation by “non-practicing entities” and “patent assertion entities” and report back with findings
and recommendations on how to “minimize any negative impact” of such litigation by September
2012.14
This report reviews the current debate and controversy surrounding PAEs, examines the reasons
for the rise in PAE litigation, and explores the legislative options available to Congress if it
decides that PAEs are an issue that should be addressed.
9 See James Bessen & Michael J. Meurer, The Direct Costs from NPE Disputes 18–19 (Boston Univ.
School of Law, Law and Economics Research Paper No. 12-34, 2012).
10 See generally Tom Ewing, Indirect Exploitation of Intellectual Property Rights By Corporations and
Investors, 4 HASTINGS SCI. & TECH. L.J. 1 (2011); see also FTC Report, supra note 4.
11 See, e.g., Ron Epstein, Debunking the ‘Patent Troll’ Myth, BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK, August 15,
2011, available at http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2010-02-01/debunking-the-patent-troll-
mythbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice.
12 See Mark A. Lemley, Are Universities Patent Trolls?, 18 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT. L.J.
611, 618 (2008).
13 See generally FTC Report, supra note 4; James Bessen et. al., The Private and Social Costs of Patent
Trolls, REGULATION 26 (2006).
14 P.L. 112-29, §34 (2011).
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Patent Law Fundamentals
Patent law finds its constitutional basis in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8, of the U.S. Constitution15
and its statutory basis in the Patent Act of 1952.16 Patents provide the right to exclude others from
making, using, selling, or importing claimed inventions for a limited period of time, generally 20
years. Inventors may acquire patents by submitting an application to the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office (PTO), where officials will examine it to determine whether the statutory
requirements are met. This process is commonly known as “prosecution.”
Applications consist of “claims” establishing the metes and bounds of the patent property right,
which is typically broader than the specific invention, and a “specification” that describes the
claimed invention. The specification must be detailed and concrete enough to enable others to
make and use the invention without undue experimentation.17 Claims must consist of a patentable
subject matter—“any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or any composition of
matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof”—rather than abstract ideas or law of nature,
and satisfy substantive requirements of novelty, nonobviousness, and utility.18
The patent holder may enforce its rights by filing infringement suits in federal court against
anyone who makes, uses, sells, or imports the patented technology, regardless of whether it was
copied or developed independently.19 Courts presume that patents granted by the PTO are valid,
but accused infringers may introduce evidence of invalidity or unenforceability. The patent holder
bears the burden of establishing infringement by each alleged infringer.20 Patent litigation is very
expensive;21 the average suit in which $1 million to $25 million is at stake costs $1.6 million
through discovery and $2.8 million through trial.22
Upon a finding of infringement, a federal court may issue an injunction if doing so seems more
equitable than simply awarding monetary damages. The statute also provides for the award of
damages “adequate to compensate for the infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable
royalty for the use made of the invention by the infringer.”23 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the
Federal Circuit has national jurisdiction over most patent appeals from the district courts.24
A patent holder can also enforce its rights by filing a complaint with the International Trade
Commission (ITC), which may issue an exclusion order blocking importation of the infringing
product into the United States.25 The ITC is not authorized to issue damages, however.26
15 U.S. CONST. art. I, §8, cl. 8 (“To promote the Progress of ... useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to
... Inventors the exclusive Right to their ... Discoveries. . .”).
16 P.L. 82-593, 66 Stat. 792 (codified at 35 U.S.C.).
17 35 U.S.C. §112 (2012).
18 35 U.S.C. §101 (2012).
19 35 U.S.C. §271 (2012).
20 35 U.S.C. §271 (2012).
21 ALAN R. THIELE ET. AL., THE PATENT INFRINGEMENT LITIGATION HANDBOOK 125 (2010).
22 AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW ASSOCIATION, 2011 REPORT OF THE ECONOMIC SURVEY
(2012).
23 35 U.S.C. §284 (2012).
24 28 U.S.C. §1295 (2012).
25 19 U.S.C. §1337 (2012).
26 Id.
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The “Patent Trolls” Controversy
Skyrocketing rates of patent litigation since the turn of the 21st century have often been tied to
the rise of “patent assertion entities” (PAEs),27 businesses modeled on “purchasing and asserting
patents against manufacturers who may be using the technology” rather than developing or
commercializing the technologies themselves.28 They are frequently accused of being classic
arbitrageurs, taking advantage of the “large gap between the cost of getting a patent and the value
that can be captured with an infringement action” in the information technology (IT) sector.29
PAEs are frequently referred to as “patent trolls,” after the villains of folklore known to lie in wait
under bridges they did not build, then emerge from the smog to demand tolls from unsuspecting
travelers.30 The term “troll” is controversial because it is both pejorative and ambiguous, often
used imprecisely for any opportunistic or unpopular patent holder.31 But it is best understood as
an epithet for PAEs, which object to the label and argue essentially that the fees they collect are
legitimate and needed to fund investment in infrastructure—that if they did not take tolls, bridges
would be fewer in number and lower in quality.
Enforcement by PAEs
PAEs seek to license their patents primarily ex post facto—often after defendants have
independently invented and begun using a technology allegedly covered by their patents, and
frequently only after it has become ubiquitous or standard-essential in an industry.32
Indeed, the average patent asserted by the most litigious PAEs is not litigated for the first time, or
assigned to its final owner, until seven years into its term, according to a study by Professor
Michael Risch.33 By contrast, product firms tend to assert their patents early in the patent term,
and Professor Brian J. Love finds that the gap in litigation timing is such that “the average
27 There is no consensus on a less-loaded synonym for “patent troll” as it is most commonly understood,
but “PAE” has recently become the choice of both Congress and the FTC. See FTC Report, supra note 4, at
60–61; ITC House and Senate Hearings, supra note 2. The most popular alternative choice is “non-
practicing entity” (NPE), but that term is too broad, ensnaring universities and fledgling inventors.
Research organization Patent Freedom defines NPEs as companies receiving most of their revenue from
patent licensing or enforcement—which is how this report defines PAEs—but that usage is confusing
because it does not align with the intuitive or common meaning of “NPE.” See PATENT FREEDOM, WHAT IS
AN NPE?, https://www.patentfreedom.com/about-npes/background (last visited July 20, 2012). PAEs bring
most NPE suits. Allison et. al., supra note 7, at 684.
28 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 67–68.
29 Magliocca, supra note 5, at 1812.
30 The term was coined at Intel in 2001 as a pithy label for litigants asserting patents that they owned but
did not practice and which they typically acquired. An Intel Corporation vice president had been sued after
referring to such litigants as “patent extortionists.” See Joff Wild, The Real Inventors of the Term “Patent
Troll” Revealed, IAM MAGAZINE, August 22, 2008, http://iam-magazine.com/blog/detail.aspx?g=cff2afd3-
c24e-42e5-aa68-a4b4e7524177.
31 See, e.g., Ronald S. Katz et. al., Patent Trolls: A Selective Etymology, IP LAW 360, March 20, 2008,
http://manatt.com/uploadedFiles/News_and_Events/Articles_By_Us/patentroll.pdf.
32 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 50–51. Standard-essential patents claim technologies that have been
adopted as industry-wide standards by standard-setting organizations. Id. at 191–92.
33 Michael Risch, Patent Troll Myths, 42 SETON HALL L. REV. 457, 490 (2012).
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product-company patent has been shelved by its owner before the average NPE patent has
even been asserted.”34
PAEs suggest that they simply enforce patent property rights against infringers, but much of the
controversy surrounding their activities comes from the impression that they lack valid claims to
the royalties they demand and receive.35 Studies suggest that PAEs rarely prevail on the merits.
Their win rate in cases decided on the merits is just 8 percent, versus 40 percent for other entities,
according to a study by Professors John R. Allison, Mark A. Lemley, and Joshua Walker.36 But
they persist with litigation nonetheless, apparently supported by the licensing fees obtained by
posing a credible threat of extended litigation.37
Contrary to popular belief, however, PAEs do not lose more because their patents are weaker or
more likely to be invalid, according to Villanova University Law Professor Michael Risch.38 In
fact, he finds the patents asserted by the most litigious PAEs to be on par with other patents by
objective measures of quality and value, and no studies supports the idea that they are especially
prone to invalidation, relative to other patents.39 Rather, PAEs often fail to show infringement,
perhaps because they seek and depend upon overly broad constructions of what their patent
claims cover.40
PAEs vs. Other Non-Practicing Entities
PAEs describe themselves as critical intermediaries. Some claim to offer “department stores” for
patents, providing one-stop shopping for licensing and purchase.41 Others suggest they serve key
functions by enabling individual inventors, who generate about 12% of patents,42 to earn returns
despite lacking the resources to enforce or commercialize their patents themselves.43
No one doubts that an efficient patent system needs intermediaries who reduce transaction costs
between those who invent things and those who develop and commercialize them. Many
observers note, however, that PAEs “do not seem to operate that way,”44 and that other non-
practicing entities (NPEs) serve these functions more efficiently and without “trolling” tactics.45
PAEs are alleged to be one-of-a-kind in that they are said to speculate on patents—they bet on
34 Brian J. Love, An Empirical Study of Patent Litigation Timing: Could a Patent Term Reduction
Decimate Trolls Without Harming Innovators? 3 (SSRN Working Paper Series 2011),
http://ssrn.com/abstract=1917709.
35 See Risch, supra note 33, at 459.
36 Allison et. al., supra note 7, at 694.
37 See AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW ASSOCIATION, supra note 23.
38 See Allison et. al., supra note 7, at 706.
39 See Risch, supra note 33, at 481.
40 Id.
41 Nathan Myhrvold, The Big Idea: Funding Eureka!, HARV. BUS. REV. 44 (2010).
42 JAMES BESSEN AND MICHAEL J. MEURER, PATENT FAILURE 169 (2008).
43 See Myhrvold, supra note 41, at 48–49; Sannu K. Shrestha, Trolls or Market-Maker? An Empirical
Analysis of Nonpracticing Entities, 110 COLUM. L. REV. 114, 126–30 (2010); FTC Report, supra note 4, at
64, 68.
44 See Robin Feldman & Tom Ewing, The Giants Among Us, 2012 STAN. TECH. L. REV. 1, 20–21 (2012).
45 See, e.g., Bessen et. al, supra note 13, at 34; Elizabeth D. Ferrill, Patent Investment Trusts: Let’s Build a
PIT to Catch the Patent Trolls, 6 N.C. J.L. & TECH. 367, 371–374 (2005).
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how much more a patent will be worth in the future, when it is asserted, and focus on high-risk
high-yield acquisitions.46
Other NPEs with licensing-based business models include technology development firms and
licensing agents, but PAEs differ from these in that they generally offer licenses only after
infringement and lock-in have begun.47 The FTC explained that while other NPEs transfer
technologies that they or their clients invented and developed so that licensees can benefit from
not having to develop them in-house, PAEs transfer nothing but a legal right not to be sued for
using a technology that the licensee may have already invested in developing on its own, without
help from the PAE or its patents.48 PAEs also diverge from other NPEs that enforce patents
because they focus on acquiring patents outright and asserting them on their own behalf, as
opposed to providing services and collecting fees or a slice of the litigation award.49
The Impact on Innovation
PAEs have frequently been accused of imposing a “tax on innovation” and undermining or
impairing the incentives that patent law aims to create. Yet PAEs have also been defended on the
grounds that they actually promote invention by adding liquidity, absorbing some of the risk
otherwise borne by investors, and getting more royalties for small inventors.50 Without a doubt,
PAEs both add to and subtract from the incentives of patent law,51 but the FTC and many experts
in the field indicate that they currently do more harm than good to innovation and the patent
system.52 The extent of this imbalance—and whether Congress could or should recalibrate it to
“support the beneficial effects, and lessen the detrimental ones”— remains unclear, however.53
To the extent that PAEs wait to seek licenses until defendants have sunk costs into a product or
invested in developing a disputed technology on their own, the FTC suggests that they can deter
innovation by raising costs and risks for the companies and investors that actually bring products
to market.54 Investment decisions must factor in the likelihood that PAEs will later emerge and
demand royalties or bring costly litigation,55 directly reducing returns on investment.56 Faced with
lower profit margins and uncertain but potentially significant risk, manufacturers may find that
46 Id.; Steven M. Cherry, Patent Profiteers, IEEE SPECTRUM, June 2004, at 38–41; FTC Report, supra note
4, at 62–67; Raymond Millen & Ron Laurie, Meet the Middlemen, INTELL. ASSET MGMT. 54 (2008).
47 Development firms, such as Qualcomm, focus on research and development of technologies, rather than
acquisition of patents, and then pitch their patented technologies to licensees in advance. Licensing agents,
meanwhile, offer enforcement and negotiation services without acquiring or asserting patents on their own
behalf. See Cherry, supra note 46, at 38–41; FTC Report, supra note 4, at 62–67.
48 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 40 n. 43.
49 Ferrill, supra note 45, at 371–374.
50 See Myhrvold, supra note 41, at 44–45.
51 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 67–68.
52 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 67–68.; Love, supra note 34.
53 It is worth noting that the asserted benefits of PAE activity tend to be more long-term, abstract, and
indirect, and thus more difficult to estimate.
54 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 52–54; Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 31–35 (finding the risk of future
lawsuit-related losses to be a large disincentive to invest in innovation that far exceeds counterbalancing
incentives).
55 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 52–54; Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 31–35; see also Eric Savitz,
Cuban Says Vringo Stake Hedges Patent Risk In Other Investments, FORBES, April 17, 2012.
56 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 52–54; Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 31–35.
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some R&D projects, features, and product improvements are simply not worth doing, even if
beneficial to consumers. Similarly, startups and small businesses may have a harder time getting
funding from venture capitalists and other investors who anticipate future PAE demands.
There are also opportunity costs as productive entities divert funds from R&D to deal with PAEs.
In addition to the obvious diversion to pay licensing fees and legal costs, there has also been a
shift towards investing in PAEs instead of startups or other ventures. Some investors buy stakes in
PAEs to hedge against the limitless risk of being sued by PAEs—strengthening them to deal with
the damage they may experience elsewhere.57 One high-tech entrepreneur explained that “[i]f
patent laws continue to be as they are, this is the only way I can see that allows any level of
protection.”58 Other investors have simply realized that PAEs offer great returns on investment—
better than many startups—and shifted funding in their direction.59
On the other hand, PAEs argue they actually promote investment in invention. Nathan Myhrvold,
CEO of PAE giant Intellectual Ventures, styles his company as pioneering a “capital market for
inventions akin to the venture capital market that supports start-ups and the private equity market
that revitalizes inefficient companies.”60 The most recognized benefit of PAE activity is increased
liquidity and better risk management for investments in applied research and invention. By
enlivening a secondary61 market for patents, PAEs provide an exit option and/or extra revenue
stream for a variety of patentees. They absorb and manage the high risk62 by spreading it across
large portfolios of patents and extracting value out of otherwise low-value or dormant patents.
Patentees who do not or cannot commercialize in the “primary” market for technology63 might
recoup their costs and perhaps see some returns by selling their patents to PAEs and retaining a
cut of future royalties. PAEs suggest this function is especially essential for small inventors and
NPEs that would otherwise have a hard time getting any value from their inventions.
57 When an outspoken advocate for patent reform bought a stake in a company known to “aggressively sue
over IP,” he explained, “This is a hedge against the unlimited patent exposure all the companies I have
investments in face. Patent risk is impossible to quantify. It’s unrealistic for most small to medium
businesses to have any clue which patents they are at risk over.” Mark Cuban, The Greatest Business Risk
You Don’t Know About, BLOG MAVERICK, April 18, 2012, http://blogmaverick.com/2012/04/18/the-
greatest-business-risk-you-dont-know-about-your-business-will-be-sued-over-patents.
58 Jay Yarow, Mark Cuban: Here's Why I'm Taking A Big Stake in A Patent Troll, BUS. INSIDER, April18,
2012, http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-04-18/tech/31359139_1_patent-suit-patent-troll-patent-
laws#ixzz1zmuCpoFR.
59 See House ITC Hearing, supra note 2 (statement of Connie V. Chien).
60 See Nathan Myhrvold, supra note 41, at 41–42.
61 In the primary market for technology, revenue and returns on investment come from commercializing the
patented technology and exploiting exclusive rights to use it in the marketplace. In the secondary market
for patents, revenue comes from licensing fees. PAEs sell or license their patents “as assets whose values
are based on the amount of licensing fees that can be extracted from operating companies already using and
marketing the technology.” See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 60.
62 Some suggest that only 1 to 3 percent of patents turn profits for their inventors, Myhrvold, supra note 41,
at 46, and that only 7 percent even recoup the costs of their prosecution. Michael Agger, Google Patent
Overload, SLATE, January 2, 2007, http://www.slate.com/id/2156386/fr/flyout.
63 Smaller inventors may lack the resources or know-how to commercialize, and it will often be inefficient
for them to try. Other patents may not become valuable for years or require further capital and sunk costs.
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NPEs that routinely obtain and sell patents in the secondary market—universities in particular—
benefit directly from, and in proportion to, PAE activity.64 The more licensing fees PAEs obtain,
the more these inventors earn from their patents, and the greater their incentives to invent.65
The FTC, however, warns that an increase in the volume of inventions attributable to PAEs
should not be taken as a trump card: “Paying inventors only to invent and patent may generate
more invention and patents, but it may not generate more innovation. Invention is only the first
step in a lengthy and expensive development process to bring an innovation to market.”66
PAEs may create disincentives for firms to invest in the rest of the process to turn inventions into
products and bring them to market. The more a firm invests in R&D, the more likely it is to be
sued by a PAE.67 And each extra dollar PAEs pay out for patents in the secondary market may
deduct from the profits of firms that actually commercialize and make use of patented
technologies.
James Bessen and Michael J. Meurer have reported that of the $29 billion PAEs cost defendants
in 2011, no more than 25 percent of it flowed back to innovation—the rest they categorize as
deadweight loss.68 In other words, this report calculated that only a fraction of defendant losses go
towards the benefits PAEs assert. Empirical research has also raised doubts about how much
PAEs actually help small inventors and startups. Another Bessen-Meurer study indicated that less
than two percent of losses in wealth caused by PAEs passed through to independent inventors,69
which according to other studies supply only 29 percent of PAE patents; 43 percent come from
large firms.70 PAEs also impose costs upon small- and mid-sized businesses, which comprised 90
percent of defendants sued by PAEs in 2011 and bore 37 percent of the direct costs, according to
Bessen and Meurer.71
Behind the Rise of PAEs
Experts attribute the proliferation of PAEs over the past 10 to 15 years to the explosion of the
information technology (IT) industry and patent law’s struggle to adapt to the unique issues
presented by this new frontier of innovation. They indicate that the PAE business model is not
about licensing patents generally but high-tech patents in particular,72 including those on software
and business methods or processes related to software, as well as computers and electronics.73
64 Repeat-seller NPEs such as universities are unique because they which benefit greatly from selling to
PAEs but never bear the costs on the other side (in the form of licensing fees and litigation costs). See
Lemley, supra note 12, at 618. The Bayh-Dole Act empowered universities to reap revenue benefits from
their applied research and patenting activities, but it is a point of contention whether it adds to incentives,
or if it does, whether they are the right kind. Id.
65 Id.
66 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 69 (emphasis added).
67 See Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 34; Colleen V. Chien, Of Trolls, Davids, Goliaths, and Kings:
Narratives and Evidence in the Litigation of High-Tech Patents, 87 N.C. L. REV. 1571, 1581 (2009).
68 Bessen et. al., supra note 13; Bessen & Meurer, supra note 9.
69 Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 32–33.
70 Risch, supra note 33, at 459–61.
71 Bessen & Meurer, supra note 9, at 19.
72 PAE suits are concentrated in the IT sphere, with about 64% of NPE-asserted patents coveting computer-
or electronics-related inventions, and almost 40% covering software-related inventions. They also account
(continued...)
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What do high-tech patents attract and enable PAEs? First, inadvertent infringement is said to be
inevitable due to notice failure and the so-called “patent thicket,” among other things. Second,
uneven bargaining power enables PAEs to negotiate excessive royalties from infringers and undue
royalties from non-infringers. The high value that can be extracted from patents that have been
plausibly or actually infringed, together with the relatively low cost of acquiring and warehousing
them, invites arbitrage.74
Notice Failure
There is virtually universal agreement that “notice failure” in the IT sector has contributed to the
rise of PAEs, as well as the rise in patent litigation generally. In an optimal patent regime, patent
property rights are clearly defined and easily determined so the world is on notice as to their
existence, scope, and ownership.75 This “notice function” enables people to avoid infringement,
negotiate permission to use others’ IP, and maximize efficiency, such as by not keeping all
inventions as trade secrets or doing R&D on inventions already claimed by someone else.76
The relative success of the patent system for pharmaceuticals has been linked in part to a
manageable volume of clearly defined claims.77 By contrast, the notice function has broken down
in the IT sector. There are two aspects to notice failure: (1) claims have “fuzzy boundaries” that
cannot be reliably determined, much less known in advance, without litigation;78 (2) it is
economically infeasible or irrational for defendants to search through existing patents to avoid
infringement.
Section 112 of the Patent Act
Several provisions of §112 are supposed to filter out abstract or ambiguous patents and ensure the
world is on notice as to what each patent covers. The FTC and many observers indicate that these
requirements have been less stringently applied and enforced in the IT industry than other sectors
where notice failure is less of a problem.
(...continued)
for 40 to 60 percent of suits over high-tech patents. See Bessen, supra note 9; Magliocca, supra note 5, at
1812; Chien, supra note 67; Love, supra note 34.
73 See, e.g., Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 34; ARTICLE ONE PARTNERS, Strategies for a Shifting IP
Landscape: A Summary of Summit Takeaways, 2011 (reporting that NPEs brought 75 percent of all active
litigation matters reported by a non-random sample of leading firms).
74 Drawing on historical parallels and the concentration of opportunistic litigation around certain types of
patents, Magliocca has concluded that “opportunistic licensors flourish when there is a large gap between
the cost of getting a patent and the value that can be captured with an infringement action.” Magliocca,
supra note 5, at 1812.
75 BESSEN & MEURER, supra note 42, at 10; FTC Report, supra note 4, at 3–8.
76 BESSEN & MEURER, supra note 42, at 10.
77 Id.
78 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 9–12. Among the reasons not discussed here: the inherent limitations
and imprecision of language, especially for emerging inventions; the lack, in fields such as software, of
“clear nomenclatures and common vocabularies”; the possibility that claims viewed narrowly at the PTO
will be construed broadly by courts; and the PTO’s focus on novelty and nonobviousness rather than clear
claim boundaries. Id.
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First, the “definiteness” requirement limits the ambiguity of the patent “claim” language, which
establishes the metes and bounds of the patent property right.79 Claims must “particularly point[]
out and distinctly claim[] the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.”80 Yet
critics say the provision has had no teeth since 2001,81 when the Federal Circuit replaced a test
requiring claims to be “plain on their face” with one under which claims are only invalid for
indefiniteness if “insolubly ambiguous” and subject to “no narrowing construction.”82 The test,
deemed a “disaster” by some,83 dramatically widened the “zone of uncertainty which enterprise
and experimentation may enter only at the risk of infringement claims.”84
Second, the boundaries set by the patent claims are sharpened by looking at the accompanying
disclosures, which according to the FTC should explain what the claims cover in a more detailed
and concrete way so as to clarify ambiguities around the outer edges that may exist or arise
later.85 It must include a specific “written description” of the claimed invention and enough
explanatory details to “enable” others in the field to make and use it.86 Here, too, observers assert
that IT patents undergo less stringent review than other types of patents, and some suggest that
this permits more abstract patents and inventions that exist only on paper.87 If §112 rules are
loosely enforced and ambiguity does not put patents at risk of later invalidation, patentees may
have less incentive to write definite claims and concrete, detailed disclosures (because every
detail added may cabin their patent property right later).88
The Patent Thicket
According to commentators, several conditions in the IT sector make it economically
and/or practically infeasible or irrational for manufacturers to find and clear all patents
incorporated in a given product. They report that, as a result, in most cases, “the first
notice of the patent [is] the filing of the lawsuit,” at which point it is too late to design around
the technology or negotiate a reasonable royalty rate because the producer has become
locked in.89 The leverage this gives to PAEs will be discussed further below. This section
explains why it is often said that virtually all IT products inadvertently infringe some
patent(s) and why the industry has apparently taken to ignoring patents altogether.90
Commentators indicate the IT sector is mired in what they call a “patent thicket,” meaning a
“dense web of overlapping [IP] rights that a company must hack its way through . . . to actually
79 Dan L. Burk & Mark A. Lemley, Is Patent Law Technology-Specific?, 17 BERKELEY TECH. L.J. 1155,
1188 (2002) (explaining that definiteness requires claims to be “written so as to warn members of the
public just what is and is not covered by the patent”); FTC Report, supra note 4, at 10–11.
80 35 U.S.C. §112.
81 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 95.
82 See Exxon Research & Eng’g Co. v. United States, 265 F.3d 1371, 1375 (Fed. Cir. 2001).
83 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 95.
84 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 94 (quoting United Carbon Co. v. Binney & Smith Co., 317 U.S. 228, 236
(1942)).
85 See FTC Report, supra note 4, at 94–95.
86 35 U.S.C. §112.
87 See Chien, supra note 67, at 1581; Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 34.
88 See Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 34.
89 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 59 n. 36.
90 See generally Mark A. Lemley, Ignoring Patents, 2008 MICH. ST. L. REV. 19 (2008).
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commercialize new technology.”91 According to many observers, the set of potentially relevant
patents for any IT product is overwhelming due to both the number of (overlapping and possibly
invalid) patents granted in this area and the number of components incorporated in each
product.92
Even for products with relatively few patents to review, commentators indicate that their “fuzzy
boundaries” would still make it a futile endeavor, and under the doctrine of willful infringement,
a risky one.93 That doctrine has been criticized for creating perverse disincentives by exposing
defendants who looked at patents they are later found to infringe to enhanced damages, adding to
the cost, risk, and duration of litigation.94 If those issues were addressed, a full search would still
entail huge costs for marginal returns, insuring against neither infringement nor litigation.
Even the most thorough search will leave some stones unturned—those pending at the PTO.95
Between the application and issuance dates, patent claims cannot be accessed or checked by other
firms, which meanwhile might develop and market infringing products. Strategic use of
continuation practice to keep patents pending and hidden longer at the PTO has become an
increasingly common and criticized practice.96
Finally, clearing the patent thicket does nothing to prevent weak or baseless suits brought only to
extract a settlement from the defendant. Recall that PAEs lose 92 percent of merits judgments and
settle the vast majority of their assertions.97 These figures may be attributable to uneven
bargaining power, which is the subject of the next section.
Uneven Bargaining Power
PAEs occupy highly advantageous bargaining positions, and their leverage over defendants has
been attributed to an asymmetry of costs and risk that breaks down into three factors: high
litigation costs and no way to dispose of weak suits early; the risk of potentially debilitating
liability for defendants; and the lack of any major risk or disincentive for PAE plaintiffs to
litigate.
First, patent litigation is expensive, and there is no quick or affordable way to get rid of a patent
suit except to settle.98 Defendants frequently find settlement the most cost-effective option, even
91 Carl Shapiro, Navigating the Patent Thicket: Cross Licenses, Patent Pools, and Standard Setting, in
INNOVATION POLICY AND THE ECONOMY 119, 125 (2001).
92 “[I]f you’re selling online, at the most recent count there are 4,319 patents you could be violating. If you
also planned to advertise, receive payments for, or plan shipments of your goods, you would need to be
concerned with approximately 11,000.” BESSEN & MEURER, supra note 42, at 8.
93 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 51; Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 34.
94 See Lemley, supra note 90.
95 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 80–90; Richard A. Posner, Why There Are Too Many Patents in America,
THE ATLANTIC, July 12, 2012, http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/07/why-there-are-too-
many-patents-in-america/259725/.
96 See, e.g., Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 34; Posner, supra note 95.
97 Allison et. al., supra note 7, at 708.
98 It costs $1.5 million just to get through discovery and $2.5 million in all for suits where there is $1
million to $25 million at stake. In suits where over $25 million is at stake, it is $3 million through discovery
and $5 million total. See AMERICAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW ASSOCIATION, supra note 22.
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if they are certain that they are not infringing.99 The AIA provisions increasing the speed and
availability of post-grant examination is expected to ameliorate this issue somewhat for invalid
patents granted after 2011. Defendants will be able to challenge a patent’s validity, but not its
scope or the claim of infringement, at a much lower cost than they can in court, where they must
overcome a presumption of validity by clear and convincing evidence to get a patent
invalidated.100
Second, where injunctive relief is available to PAEs, what commentators call the “patent holdup”
problem arises as PAEs leverage the threat of an injunction in royalty negotiations to “capture far
more than the intrinsic value of their invention.”101 Those wielding this power have described it as
a “Damocles sword.”102 Patent holdup is said to be particularly acute in the IT sector because
products incorporate dozens or even thousands of patented features or components, and the owner
of any one of them can keep the entire product off the market.103
In 2006, the Supreme Court took a step towards fixing the so-called holdup problem with its
decision in eBay v. MercExchange, which enabled lower courts to deny injunctive relief to PAEs
and issue only monetary damages for infringement.104 The case overturned a longstanding
“general rule” of the Federal Circuit that injunctions issue automatically upon a finding of
infringement.105 Courts now apply a four-factor balancing test that tends to weigh against PAEs.
Indeed, few injunctions have been granted in patent infringement cases since eBay.106
Scholars have raised concerns that PAEs have now shifted their holdup efforts to the International
Trade Commission (ITC), a quasi-judicial federal agency that grants “exclusion orders” that stop
the import of infringing products into the United States.107 The ITC has responded to the concerns
with data showing that just 8 percent of post-eBay ITC investigations arose from complaints by
PAEs, only one of which obtained an exclusion order.108 But both sides may be correct if, as the
99 See, e.g., Eon–Net LP v. Flagstar Bancorp, 653 F.3d 1314, 1326–27 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (observing that
plaintiff had filed suit against 100+ defendants then quickly settled with most of them for far less than
litigation costs, and the defendant who did litigate had expended $600,000 to avoid paying $25,000–
$75,000 in royalties); Darren Cahr & Ira Kalina, Of PACs and Trolls: How the Patent Wars May Be
Coming to a Hospital Near You, 19 HEALTH LAW. 15, 16 (2006) (“The patent troll offers a license for
under $100,000. The end user makes a business decision—millions of dollars to defend a suit that might be
lost, or $100,000 or less for certainty? The end user takes a license.”).
100 Scott A. McKeown, USPTO to Break Patent Troll Business Model in September?, Patents Post-Grant,
http://www.patentspostgrant.com/lang/en/2012/07/patent-troll-business-model-to-change-in-september
101 See generally Mark A. Lemley & Carl Shapiro, Patent Holdup and Royalty Stacking, 85 TEX. L. REV.
1991 (2007).
102 See House ITC Hearing, supra note 2 (statement of Connie V. Chien).
103 See Lemley & Shapiro, supra note 101.
104 See eBay, v. MercExchange, L.L.C., 547 U.S. 388, 391 (2006). For more information on this case, see
CRS Report RL33429, Availability of Injunctive Relief in Patent Cases: eBay, Inc. v. MercExchange,
L.L.C., by Brian T. Yeh.
105 See eBay, 547 U.S. at 391.
106 The factors are: (1) necessity to prevent irreparable injury to the patent owner, (2) availability of an
adequate legal remedy, such as monetary damages, (3) whether granting the injunction would be in the
public interest, and (4) the balance of hardships. See id.
107 See Colleen V. Chien & Mark A. Lemley, Patent Holdup, the ITC, and the Public Interest 10–15
(Stanford Public Law Working Paper No. 2022168, 2012); see also ITC House Hearing, supra note 2
(statement of Rep. Bob Goodlatte).
108 U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION, FACTS AND TRENDS REGARDING USITC SECTION 337
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scholars suggest, each of the PAE complaints ensnares entire industries by asserting that industry
standards, adopted and incorporated by all manufacturers, infringe their patents.109
Third, by contrast to their targets, PAEs have nothing to lose and much to gain by litigating
aggressively. Unlike most other patentee-plaintiffs, PAEs pursuing infringement suits “do not risk
disruption to their core business” because “patent enforcement is their core business.”110
Because PAEs are NPEs that do not make or sell anything, they are not subject to counterclaims
that they infringe on defendants’ patents. By contrast, when a product firm sues another firm for
infringement, the defendant can dig up or acquire a patent that the plaintiff’s products might
infringe and counterclaim. The resulting dynamic of mutual assured destruction makes bargain
power more even, settlement more likely, and litigation far less appealing. Compounding that
leverage, the PAE business model creates unusual incentives for PAEs to forge ahead with weak
suits (rather than calling it a loss or accepting a lowball settlement) to reinforce their bargaining
position with future targets. The ability to extract licensing fees depends upon posing a credible
threat of costly litigation.
PAEs also have less to lose than other plaintiffs if a patent is invalidated or narrowly construed.
Although PAEs lose future revenue when a lucrative patent is invalidated, this cannot deter them
from litigating because the whole value of a PAE’s patents depends upon its demands being
backed by a credible threat of litigation. Additionally, by the time a validity judgment comes
down, the PAE will often have already extracted royalties from other defendants, and these
licensing and settlement agreements are often one-time, non-refundable deals.111
The joinder limitations included in the America Invents Act might reduce the leverage PAEs can
exert. Section 19 of the AIA restricts the ability to sue multiple unrelated defendants for
infringement in the same case or same trial “based solely on allegations that they each have
infringed the patent or patents in suit,”112 which had become a common practice among PAEs.113
PAEs must now incur more costs per defendant they sue and face multiple assessments of
validity, each with potential collateral estoppel effect. Commentators have predicted that Section
19 will have an impact but not a tremendously significant one, potentially reducing the number of
defendants getting sued while increasing the number of suits filed.114 But if the threat of litigation
that gives force to a PAE’s licensing demands becomes less credible because it cannot follow
through with suing all firms that refuse to buy a license, then its leverage is reduced.
(...continued)
INVESTIGATIONS (2012) http://www.usitc.gov/press_room/documents/featured_news/337facts.pdf.
109 Chien & Lemley, supra note 107, at 10–15.
110 Chien, supra note 67, at 1579.
111 See Lemley & Shapiro, supra note 101, at 2006.
112 P.L. 112-29 at §19; 35 U.S.C. §299; see also Chandran B. Iyer & Ryan M. Corbett, Joinder Limitations
in the America Invents Act: Big Change?, ABA INTELL. PROP. LIT. COMM., February 20, 2012, available at
http://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/committees/intellectual/articles/winter2012-joinder-limitations-
america-invents-act.html.
113 Id.
114 See Sheri Qualters, ‘Trolls’ Adapting to Limit on Multidefendant Cases, 34 NAT’L L.J. 10 (2012).
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Legislation in the 112th Congress
On August 1, 2012, Representatives Peter DeFazio and Jason Chaffetz introduced the Saving
High-Tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHIELD) Act of 2012 (H.R. 6245). The
bill would amend the Patent Act to provide authority for a court to award full litigation costs
(including reasonable attorney’s fees) to the defendant in a lawsuit alleging the infringement of a
computer hardware or software patent (or in an action disputing the validity of such patent), if the
court makes a determination that the patent holder “did not have a reasonable likelihood of
succeeding” in the suit.115 Although the bill provides definitions for “computer hardware patent”
and “software patent,” it also includes a “rule of construction” section that cautions that nothing
in the SHIELD Act is to be “construed as amending or interpreting categories of patent-eligible
subject matter.”116 Thus, the bill is not intended to settle the ongoing dispute over the extent to
which computer hardware and software patents should or should not be eligible for patent
protection.
The Patent Act currently provides a court with the power to award reasonable attorney fees to the
prevailing party “in exceptional cases.”117 The SHIELD Act would make that power more
generally available, in any case involving a computer hardware or software patent, whether it is a
plaintiff’s action alleging patent infringement or a potential defendant’s declaratory judgment
action challenging the validity of the patent. In either action, the patent owner would bear the
burden of demonstrating to the court a “reasonable likelihood of succeeding” in the case to avoid
potentially being required to pay the defendant’s litigation costs. However, the SHIELD Act
provides that a federal court “may” award such costs, thus leaving the judge discretion to award
the costs to the defendant even if he or she finds that the plaintiff had no likelihood of success. In
addition, nothing in the SHIELD Act refers specifically to PAEs and thus any patent holder in an
action involving a computer hardware or software patent, whether a PAE or product-producing
competitor, would be required to satisfy the new requirement.
As Representative Chaffetz explained in introducing the bill, “The SHIELD Act ensures that
American tech companies can continue to create jobs, rather than waste resources on fending off
frivolous lawsuits. ... This bill combats the problem of patent trolls by moving to a ‘losers pays’
system for software and hardware patent litigation.”118 Another observer has noted that by
“shift[ing] the legal costs to the plaintiff,” the legislation “would discourage [PAEs] from filing
baseless lawsuits that would probably not hold up in court but could lead to a settlement
payment.”119
Some have criticized the SHIELD Act for not defining the key test under the bill: “reasonable
likelihood of success.” They note that the lack of a statutory definition means that courts will
115 H.R. 6245, §2(a), adding new 35 U.S.C. §285A(a).
116 Id., §2(c).
117 35 U.S.C. §285.
118 Press Release: DeFazio Introduces SHIELD Act to Protect American Innovation, Jobs, August 1, 2012, at
http://defazio.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=792:defazio-introduces-shield-act-to-
protect-american-innovation-jobs&catid=69:2012-press-releases.
119 Lisa Shuchman, Congress Takes Aim at “Patent Trolls” With SHIELD Act, CORPORATE COUNSEL, August 6, 2012,
available at
http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202566021859&Congress_Takes_Aim_at_Patent_Trolls_With_SHI
ELD_Act.
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likely need to interpret the provision over the course of several years in order to develop a
particular standard.120 Other observers predict that while the bill could be “effective against
plaintiffs who take the shotgun approach and sue everyone at once without doing proper due
diligence,” the bill is not likely to apply to a PAE that has a valid patent and a non-frivolous
lawsuit.121 Finally, one stakeholder argues that the SHIELD Act would harm small patent owners
and independent inventors—and will be a boon for large technology companies—because “the
very possibility of having to pay millions of dollars in defense costs will give a pause to many
law firms before representing inventors on a contingency basis effectively denying these
inventors access to justice.”122
Other Legislative Options
Should Congress decide that additional legislation is desirable to address PAE activity,
commentators have suggested a number of avenues.
IT-Specific Reform
It bears emphasis that PAE activity has been concentrated in the realm of IT, primarily on patents
related to software, the Internet, and electronics.123 Due to the component-driven and intangible
nature of IT, as well as indications that patents are less essential to promoting innovation in IT
than in other industries, such as pharmaceuticals, some observers urge Congress to undertake
targeted reforms and leave the other realms of the patent system as they are.124 This could entail
distinctions based on type of patent or the industry area, an approach already taken by the
SHIELD Act.
However, such precision may be precluded, or at least constrained, by an international agreement.
Article 27.1 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
(“TRIPS”), administered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), requires that patents “be
available and patent rights enjoyable without discrimination as to ... the field of technology.”125
But some observers have argued that this provision “does not strictly require a ‘single level of IP
120 Ryan Davis, Patent Troll Bill May Be Too Vague, Narrow to Rein In Suits, LAW360, August 8. 2012, available at
http://www.law360.com/ip/articles/368023. However, it should be noted that the federal courts already are familiar
with a possibly similar standard, “likelihood of success on the merits,” which a party in a patent case must show in
order to obtain a preliminary injunction. See Reebok Int’l v. J. Baker, Inc., 32 F.3d 1552, 1555 (Fed. Cir. 1994)
(“Whether a preliminary injunction should issue turns upon four factors: (1) the movant’s reasonable likelihood of
success on the merits; (2) the irreparable harm the movant will suffer if preliminary relief is not granted; (3) the balance
of hardships tipping in its favor; and (4) the adverse impact on the public interest.”). In seeking the preliminary
injunction against a defendant, a patent holder could satisfy the “reasonable likelihood of success on the merits” factor
by showing that the patent is valid and has been infringed. Id. at 1555-56.
121 Id.
122 Alexander Poltorak, Proposed SHIELD Law is Nothing But a Gift to Infringers, THE HILL’S CONGRESS BLOG,
August 10, 2012, at http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/243135-proposed-shield-law-is-nothing-but-a-
gift-to-infringers.
123 Suits over software patents comprise 62 percent of NPE litigation, Bessen et. al., supra note 14, at 34,
and of the most litigated patents (those litigated 8 or more times), 94 percent were software patents. See
Allison et. al., supra note 7, at 696.
124 See, e.g., Posner, supra note 95.
125 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, art. 27.1 (1994).
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protection for all technologies or industries.’”126 In fact, a WTO panel “rejected a strict
interpretation of Article 27.1 prohibiting any differentiation between fields of technology,” and
the “accepted view is that ‘the pejorative concept of discrimination must be distinguished from
differentiation for legitimate reasons.’”127 Nevertheless, Congress may need to carefully examine
whether any changes it desires to make to the patent system would be inconsistent with its
international obligations.
Improving Notice
Improving notice where it currently fails is a relatively uncontroversial and high-priority goal of
some patent reform advocates. The “fuzzy boundaries” of IT patents and the sheer number of
them that are granted and incorporated in any given product make it difficult for firms to avoid
infringement and, once faced with a PAE assertion, to know whether it is valid without going to
court. There are also a number of disincentives and obstacles for product firms to find and clear
patents ahead of time. Many scholars believe solving this notice failure would go far towards
reducing the negative effects of PAEs while keeping the benefits and making the entire patent
system work better.128
Among the most popular ideas is more robust use of §112’s definiteness and disclosure rules to
deny (at the PTO) or invalidate (in court) abstract or ambiguous IT patents,129 which may entail
legislatively overruling Federal Circuit standards that permit “substantial ambiguity” in IT patent
claims.130 Of course it is also an option to let the Federal Circuit sort these matters out itself.
For definiteness, Congress might consider amendments that point the Federal Circuit to a test that
“weeds out claims reasonably susceptible to multiple interpretations,” which the FTC says “could
reduce ambiguity and improve notice in a broad range of settings.”131 Many observers want a test
that weeds out more claims than the “insolubly ambiguous” standard adopted by the Federal
Circuit in 2001.132 Others believe current doctrine is adequate but underenforced.133
Several reform proposals address the issue of patent applicants keeping claims hidden at the PTO
by filing continuations. The most common among them involve reforms of continuation practice,
which currently “allows patent owners to hide the true nature of their invention until late in the
process” and extend the time during which other companies might unknowingly begin using the
patented technology.134 There have also been many calls for the PTO to make pending
applications more open to the outside world so that there are no surprises and more assurance for
diligent companies that do search for existing patents.
126 Maria Victoria Stout, Crossing the TRIPS Nondiscrimination Line: How CAFTA Pharmaceuticals
Patent Provisions Violate TRIPS Article 27.1,14 B.U.J. SCI. & TECH. L. 177, 181–82 (2008).
127 Id. (collecting sources).
128 Scholars have concluded that the “patent troll business model only makes economic sense when there is
[substantial] inadvertent infringement.” Bessen et. al., supra note 13, at 34.
129 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 95, 102; Bessen & Meurer, supra note 9, at 23; Posner, supra note 95.
130 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 95.
131 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 11.
132 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 101–02. The current test allows invalidation only if a claim is “insolubly
ambiguous” and not subject to narrowing constructions. Id.
133 FTC Report, supra note 4, at 102.
134 See Lemley, supra note 12, at 630.
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Finally, some scholars propose eliminating what they view as a disincentive for firms to search
existing patents in advance. The “willfulness doctrine”135 is said to boost PAE bargaining power
and has the “perverse effect of causing people to try avoid learning of patents.”136 Congress might
consider legislation that would delay the ability to even plead willfulness until there has been a
finding of infringement.137 Proponents argue this would preserve the doctrine’s deterrent and
punitive functions while improving notice and removing a tool PAEs use to raise defendants’
costs and risk, as well as their own bargaining power.138
Reducing Leverage, Hold-Up, and Settlement Pressure
The leverage PAEs can exert by threatening an injunction from a federal court has diminished
since the Supreme Court decided eBay in 2006, but commentators now indicate that PAEs have
replaced it with the “Damocles sword” derived from credibly threatening to get an ITC exclusion
order on the import of defendants’ products.139 Congress recently heard testimony urging it to
prevent the ITC from issuing exclusion orders for PAEs and is currently considering action to that
effect.140 As noted above, PAEs play a smaller role in the growth of ITC complaints than
reformers seem to believe,141 but it is possible that PAEs have extracted royalties by threatening
ITC import bans and rarely needed to actually file.
Other procedural changes that shift more of the burdens and costs of litigation onto PAEs could
also reduce their bargaining leverage over defendant product companies. Some scholars have
called upon Congress to eliminate the presumption of validity, now given to patents out of
deference to the PTO.142 Rebuttable only by “clear and convincing evidence,” the presumption
increases costs for defendants and leverage for PAEs.143 It might also extend the life of an invalid
patent and the number of defendants a PAE can assert it against.
135 The doctrine provides for “enhanced” damages and attorney’s fees when a plaintiff shows that the
infringer “acted despite objectively high likelihood that its actions constituted infringement of a valid
patent.” In re Seagate Tech., LLC, 497 F.3d 1360, 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (en banc).
136 See Lemley, supra note 12, at 631.
137 Congress has considered legislation that would only permit plaintiffs to plead willfulness in situations
where the patent “is not invalid, enforceable and has been infringed by the infringer.” See Emily M. Van
Vliet, Patent Reform: Addressing Patent Trolling in the IT Industry While Balancing Innovation and
Intellectual Property Rights, 10 J. ENG. & PUB. POL’Y 13 (2006).
138 The calculated risk is higher due to the enhanced damages.
139 See ITC House Hearing, supra note 2 (statement of Connie V. Chien).
140 Id.; ITC Senate Hearing, supra note 2.
141 See U.S. INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION, supra note 100.
142 See Doug Lichtman & Mark A. Lemley, Rethinking Patent Law's Presumption of Validity, 60 STAN. L.
REV. 45 (2007). Scholars say the rule has backfired and stems from an unrealistic trust in the PTO:
The theoretical justification is that patent examiners have expertise when it comes to questions of
patent validity, and if patent examiners have decided that a given invention qualifies for protection,
judges and juries should not second-guess the experts. But the reality is that PTO expertise is
brought to bear under such poor conditions that any advantages associated with expertise are
overwhelmed by the disadvantages associated where information is a natural product of the
adversarial process, and where financial constraints are reduced because only a tiny fraction of all
issued patents end up sufficiently valuable and contentious to warrant litigation.” Id.
143 35 U.S.C. §282. For more information on the “clear and convincing evidence” standard, see CRS Report
R41994, The Supreme Court Decision in Microsoft v. i4i: Implications for Innovation Policy, by John R. Thomas.
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Another common suggestion is to change royalty calculation rules, which often provide damages
“disproportionate” to the contribution of the infringed patent as a portion or component of the
overall product.144 Critics posit that in the IT sector, “if every patented portion of an invention
was licensed at the same rate as the infringed patent, the inventor would face a net loss.”145 The
110th and 111th Congresses considered legislation to address this issue, but nothing was
passed.146 Observers indicate that IT interests support such changes due to the many components
in each of their products while pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and NPE or PAE interests have
opposed it.147 Congress could consider IT-specific royalty reforms.
Escalating Costs or Diminishing Rights Over Time
Many changes proposed by scholars target the practice of sitting on a patent until infringement
and/or lock-in to a plausibly infringing technology have occurred and only then notifying targets
of the patent and offering them licenses. One idea that has been floated is to decrease the patent
period for IT patents, which are quickly outdated yet litigated aggressively through the end of
their 20-year terms.148 A forthcoming study by Brian J. Love shows that it may be that a shorter
term would primarily harm PAEs:149
Product companies predominately enforce their patents soon after they issue and complete
their enforcement activities well before their patents expire. NPEs,150 on the other hand,
begin asserting their patents relatively late in the patent term and frequently continue to
litigate their patents to the verge of expiration. Indeed, I find that the average product-
company patent has been shelved by its owner before the average NPE patent has even been
asserted.151
NPEs account for the majority of suits brought in the final three years of the patent term,152
and the product firms that litigate late in the term are “a unique group of companies that . . .
blur the line between practicing entities and trolls.”153 Love’s study also finds that high-tech
patents represent an outsized portion of patents litigated in the last three years of their terms,
comprising 86 percent for NPEs and 72 percent for product firms, even though most 18- or
20-year-old software patents are likely outdated.154
144 See Lemley, supra note 12, at 630–31.
145 Id., at 631; Emily M. Van Vliet, Patent Reform: Addressing Patent Trolling in the IT Industry while
Balancing Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights, 10 J. ENG. & PUB. POL’Y 15 (2006).
146 See CRS Report R40481, Patent Reform in the 111th Congress: Innovation Issues, by Wendy H.
Schacht and John R. Thomas (discussing H.R. 1260 §5(a); S. 515 §4(a); S. 610 §4(a)); CRS Report
RL33996, Patent Reform in the 110th Congress: Innovation Issues, by John R. Thomas and Wendy H.
Schacht (discussing H.R. 1908 §5(a); S. 1145 §4(a)).
147 Id.
148 Love, supra note 34.
149 Id. at 3.
150 “Notably, NPEs’ domination of late-term litigation is almost completely attributable to firms that do
nothing more than hold patents.” Id. In other words, the “NPEs” referred to here are essentially all PAEs.
151 Id.
152 Id.
153 Id.
154 Id.
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An alternative to shortening the patent term would involve changes to the maintenance fees
that patent holders pay at certain points in the patent term to keep their rights in force.155 Fees
could escalate over the life of the patent or increase with each renewal and apply across the
board or just for inactive patents, entities with big portfolios, or IT-related patents. Another
possibility is cost- and burden-shifting in the latter half of the patent term.
Consequences for Dormancy
Under other variations, patent owners could face repercussions if they neglect to engage in bona
fide use, development, or licensing of their patents for a set number of years.156 The conditions
triggering such effects might be modeled after that for trademark “abandonment” under the
Lanham Act: non-use with the intent not to use in the reasonably foreseeable future.157
Not practicing a patent for a number of years could be prima facie evidence of abandonment that
patent owners would have to rebut before any infringement suit could proceed. Evidence of
efforts to develop, commercialize, or license the patent would rebut the prima facie assumption as
long as they are both bona fide—not taken “merely to reserve a right”—and done in good faith.
Ex post licensing would not qualify as a use, and availability through a designated clearinghouse
of some kind might be required.158
As for the effect triggered by the period of non-use, options range from cancellation to the
shifting of costs and burdens onto PAEs, diminishing their leverage and increasing their costs.
Other ideas include removing the presumption of validity, subjecting plaintiffs to heightened
pleading and production requirements, or freezing until the patent owner begins to use it.
Patent Market
A leading scholar and a leading PAE have partnered to advocate consideration of another reform:
requiring publication of patent assignment and license terms.159 Mark Lemley of Stanford Law
School and Nathan Myhrvold of Intellectual Ventures point out that patents currently exist in an
155 Id. at 43 n. 156.
156 Id. (citing Janice M. Mueller, The Tiger Awakens, 68 U. PITT. L. REV. 491, 593–97 (2007)).
157 Marks are deemed “abandoned” under 15 U.S.C. §1127 if either of the following occurs:
(1) When its use has been discontinued with intent not to resume such use. Intent not to
resume may be inferred from circumstances. Nonuse for 3 consecutive years shall be
prima facie evidence of abandonment. “Use” of a mark means the bona fide use of such
mark made in the ordinary course of trade, and not made merely to reserve a right in a
mark.
(2) When any course of conduct of the owner, including acts of omission as well as
commission, causes the mark to become the generic name for the goods or services on or
in connection with which it is used or otherwise to lose its significance as a mark.
Purchaser motivation shall not be a test for determining abandonment under this
paragraph.
158 This would make it easier for defendants to find relevant patents and then actually license them, which
would address the issue of PAEs using shell companies and other tactics to make their patents difficult to
find and license. See Ewing & Feldman, supra note 44, at 3–8.
159 Mark A. Lemley & Nathan Myhrvold, How to Make a Patent Market, 20 HOFSTRA L. REV. 101 (2009).
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inefficient blind market.160 The publication requirement would not solve the uncertainty and
notice issues, but:
[I]t will permit the aggregate record of what companies pay for rights to signal what
particular patents are worth and how strong they are, just as derivative financial instruments
allow market to evaluate and price other forms of risk. It will help rationalize patent
transactions, turning them from secret, one-off negotiations into a real, working market for
patents. And by making it clear to courts and the world at large what the normal price is for
patent rights, it will make it that much harder for a few unscrupulous patent owners to hold
up legitimate innovators, and for established companies to systematically infringe the rights
of others.161
Lemley and Myhrvold anticipate concerns that patent holders would not license their patents if
they had to disclose the licenses but suggest that this is a less a problem than people might think,
concluding that “[t]he only people who stand to lose from mandatory disclosure of licenses are
those who are taking advantage of the current state of ignorance.”162
Author Contact Information
Brian T. Yeh
Legislative Attorney
byeh@crs.loc.gov, 7-5182
Acknowledgments
This report was originally prepared by Melanie Kiser, former Law Clerk in the American Law Division,
under the supervision of Brian T. Yeh.
160 Id.
161 Id. at 102.
162 Id. at 103.
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