Law students join app makers in NPE fight

A group of US law schools have agreed to provide app developers with free legal services to help them fight non-practising entities (NPEs).

The App Developers Alliance (ADA), an industry association, is working with schools including the Brooklyn Law School, John Marshall Law School and University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

Under the Law School Patent Troll Defense Network, the schools will provide free legal representation to small app developers and “other entrepreneurs” that have been threatened or sued by patent trolls.

Participants in the network may also represent the ADA in patent cases affecting developers and the app community.

“Too many smash-and-grab patent trolls think startups and small companies are easy roadkill on their path to amassing a portfolio of settlement payments, revenue-share agreements and equity stakes,” said ADA president Jon Potter.

“By providing free legal services to entrepreneurs that cannot afford quality representation, the Troll Defense Network will help innovators fight back and continue to build great products and create jobs.”

Potter said economic constraints and fear mean that small companies often ignore letters from NPEs or negotiate directly with them, without the benefit of legal counsel. Some app publishers, he said, have dramatically changed their business and have “quashed innovative product features in response to trolls’ assertion letters”.

Mike Powell, founder of Powell IP Law LLC in the US, said he was unaware of such a formal alliance between industry and law schools, and that the partnership was a “step in the right direction”.

“How effective is this going to be? It may be effective if it stops unnecessary litigation,” he said.

Powell added: “Law students gain access to good legal work. One of the problems in the US education system is that there are not enough good apprenticeships.”

But law students’ lack of experience may be a limitation of the project, he added.

“There is a large gap between law school and federal court litigation, and they can’t fill that on their own.”

App developers are also probably targeted less than other companies, Powell said, because many are young companies.

“Will startups yield the dollars that NPEs want? Startups are usually not the most lucrative target – they are not square in the bullseye. NPEs want a deep pocket.”

Edmund Walsh, shareholder at Wolf Greenfield in Boston, said: “The first reaction to contact from an NPE should be to triage the situation.

“Not all NPEs are the same – some have been accused of making false claims relating to worthless technology just to extort small settlements while other NPEs are offering licenses to valuable innovations from major research universities.”

He said that the NPEs’ approaches may differ also: “Sometimes, a license offer or demand is indiscriminately sent to an entire industry but other times the demand is focused on specific companies who are likely infringing patents.

“Possibly, there is a role for student clinics in this triage process and even in resolving some low risk situations.”

However, he recommends caution as responding to the situation incorrectly could sink a business: “Therefore, there will be times when guidance from an experienced attorney should be sought promptly.”

Members of the ADA include AT&T, Ericsson and Samsung.