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4 March 2015Patents

US academics demand patent reforms to protect start-ups

A group of more than 50 US academics from institutions such as Harvard, Berkeley and Stanford have written to members of Congress to stress that litigation from non-practising entities (NPEs) is harming small and start-up companies.

In a letter dated March 2 (Monday), the academics urged politicians to implement “salutary reforms” of the US patent system to address their concerns.

They did not specify any reforms, however.

They cited numerous academic studies highlighting that NPEs are responsible for the majority of patent lawsuits in the US and said that this has a disproportionate impact on small companies because it “raises the cost of innovation” and “inhibits technological process”.

“The preponderant economic picture these studies present is that patent litigation now imposes substantial costs, particularly on small and innovative firms, and that these costs have tended overall to reduce research and development, venture capital investment, and firm start-ups,” they said.

Despite them citing an 18% drop in patent lawsuits in 2014 from the previous year, the academics concluded that “patent litigation remains determinedly at high levels”.

Their letter comes shortly after Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, re- introduced the Innovation Act to the House of Representatives last month.

Goodlatte said the legislation is intended to “curb abusive patent litigation”. Among his proposals is a requirement that anyone asserting a patent infringement claim must declare the details of the patent and the financially interested parties in the claim to the alleged infringer. He also wants judges to have the power to limit the use of discovery letters in a dispute.

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11 March 2015   A group of US academics has expressed concerns that an “alarmist reaction” to the alleged impact that non-practising-entities have had on US businesses threatens to “gut” the country’s patent system.