LES 2015: Post-grant proceedings ‘tremendous’ for licensees, MasterCard claims
US post-grant proceedings such as inter partes reviews are “tremendous” for licensees, according to a senior intellectual property counsel at MasterCard.
Steven Klocinski, who was speaking yesterday, October 27, at the LES 2015 Annual Meeting in New York, said there are numerous options for licensees seeking to invalidate a patent.
As a major payment brand MasterCard is typically sued rather than taking action itself, so it usually approaches licensing as a licensee, Klocinski explained.
He added that “if I was a licensor I would be more bummed out” with the proceedings’ effect on licensing strategy.
Klocinski was sitting on a panel that also included Karl Fazio, chief patent counsel at Pearson Education.
Asked whether ‘patent troll’ activity has changed since the advent of the post-grant proceedings, Fazio said there has been a reduction due to the threat of post-grant invalidation.
However, it varies depending on factors including volume of patents and the money at stake, he added, and larger “patent assertion entities” with thousands of patents are less affected.
Klocinski also noted that the amount of troll activity has been reduced.
The LES 2015 Annual Meeting takes place from October 25 to 28 at the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York.
