WIPR survey: Support shown for Nokia's litigation claims

More than 90% of respondents to WIPR’s most recent survey have said that they agree with a Nokia counsel who said that patent litigation is becoming tougher.

In response to our “10 second survey”, last week 95% of respondents said that they agreed with Richard Vary’s claim.

Vary, speaking at the IP Litigation & Enforcement conference in London on July 2, said that litigation was no longer about “walking into a court and asserting a patent” and is becoming more difficult.

“Products are moving faster than the courts”, Vary said, adding that more and more companies, particularly in the smart phone industry, are asserting multiple patents.

“It’s not just one or two, or five or ten patents—we are talking about hundreds of patents being asserted by companies,” he said.

The cost of litigation is becoming “eye-watering”, he added.

And readers appeared to agree with Vary.

One respondent commented: “Electronic documents and emails make discovery a greater burden. As the law develops, arguments get more sophisticated to get around the previous decisions.”

During the conference, Vary also said that while some courts can be slow to reach a judgment, those that try to resolve cases quickly will be popular and may get overcrowded.

This week, WIPR asks: “DJ David Guetta said recently that piracy has increased awareness of his music and helped him to sell out shows. Do you think piracy can be beneficial for IP owners?”

We look forward to hearing from you.