Displaying items by tag: NPE

In November 2012 a jury found Apple guilty of patent infringement against patent troll… sorry non-participating entity, VirnetX. VirnetX claimed that Apple was in violation of a few patents that they own. These patents relate to video and text messaging. VirnetX has also filed a new suit against Microsoft for some of the same patents claiming that Microsoft’s license for Skype does not cover what they are using these technologies for. So you can see that VirnetX keeps themselves busy.

Two days ago we wrote an article about how NPE (Non-Practicing Entities) are hurting the economy and small businesses. Our article was based on a report that was put together by the Boston University School of Law which showed that the use of NPEs in patent lawsuits cost $29 Billion in direct costs. Despite this many companies are moving to this model as a method of protection from patent lawsuits. We have seen Microsoft and Nokia do this and it seems that Qualcomm is splitting their business into two entities now too.

We have often written that the continuous stream of patent lawsuits and injunctions that are pushed around the globe are costly, dangerous and anti-consumer, but now someone has actually gone out and done the math to find out just how much damage they do per year. The study performed by James E. Bessen and Michael E Meurer both from the Boston University School of Law states that in 2011 more than $29 Billion (with a B) in direct costs were incurred all because of what are called Non-Practicing Entities (most call them patent trolls). This $29 Billion also came during a down economy and affected small to medium sized businesses the most.