All at sea: patent licensing post-AIA

The bulk of patent disputes, whether through litigation or licensing campaigns, are settled with the accused infringer (defendant) agreeing to pay an amount significantly less than it would have cost to defend a patent litigation. In these settlements, the most sophisticated patent defendants discount the cost of litigation for the present value of money, and factor in numerous other externalities such as the time and focus business and engineering teams have lost by supporting the company’s litigation defence.