Google experiments with patent marketplace to combat ‘trolls’
Google has created a “marketplace” for patents in order to help intellectual property owners avoid conducting deals with certain non-practising entities (NPEs).
Under the title the Patent Purchase Promotion, patent owners will submit offers to Google that contain details about their patents and the price they are willing to sell them at.
Google will be the only potential buyer of patents.
Patent owners will be able to enter their patents into the marketplace between May 8 and May 22. By June 26, Google will inform patent owners whether it is interested in purchasing their patents.
For patents that Google is “tentative” about purchasing, the company will request that patent owners supply further information about the patents by July 8, it said. Google said patent owners will be reimbursed by August if it decides to buy.
Patent owners can submit only one patent per submission and the scheme will apply only to US patents.
Allen Lo, deputy general counsel for Google, described it as an “experimental marketplace” in a formal announcement on the company’s official blog on Monday (April 27).
He said: “Patent owners sell patents for numerous reasons. Unfortunately, the usual patent marketplace can sometimes be challenging, especially for smaller participants who sometimes end up working with patent trolls.
“By simplifying the process and having a concentrated submission window, we can focus our efforts into quickly evaluating patent assets and getting responses back to potential sellers quickly. Hopefully this will translate into better experience for sellers, and remove the complications of working with entities such as patent trolls,” he added.
Philipp Cepl, senior associate at Allen & Overy, told WIPR that he is supportive of the idea, but is unsure that it will have an impact on the issue of NPEs litigating against big companies.
He said: "I think it is a nice idea but I doubt that it will undermine patent trolls as it will mainly be relevant for single inventors or smaller entities. I fear the 'big trolls' will still keep their patent portfolios and rather try to enlarge them."
Google has been involved in efforts to combat litigation by certain NPEs in the US. As a founding member of the group United for Patent Reform, the company has been supportive of the Targeting Rogue and Opaque Letters (TROL) Act.
The TROL Act is aimed at abusive and deceptive demand letters sent by NPEs. Last week the US Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade approved the bill and it is now set to head to the full Energy and Commerce Committee.
