"Patent Troll" Study at Stanford to Get Underway
From the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch, Famed patent firm backs study on touchy subject; Myhrvold, Lemley's study aim for academic neutrality, but some are skepticalBy John Letzing, MarketWatchSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Nathan Myhrvold, a former high-ranking Microsoft Corp. executive turned intellectual property mogul, is sponsoring a forthcoming study that aims to resolve a thorny legal issue: Who's responsible for flooding U.S. courts with a torrent of patent litigation over the past decade?
It's an ambitious project, but one also likely to elicit a good deal of cynicism.
That's because while Myhrvold's firm Intellectual Ventures anticipates fostering companies that turn its intellectual property into products, it hasn't yet. Instead, it's focused on amassing tens of thousands of valuable patents through invention, acquisition and partnering with businesses and universities.
That approach generally defines a firm as a so-called "non-practicing entity," though within the technology industry a more derisive term is often used -- "patent troll."
Big technology companies such as Myhrvold's former employer Microsoft Corporation have long complained that many non-practicing entities not only trade in patents without developing products, but also increasingly use them to target deep-pocketed companies with infringement lawsuits. . . . . .
If the study finds that non-practicing entities have played a relatively minor role in the rise of litigation, it is likely to raise questions, given the involvement of Intellectual Ventures.
"I'm excited to hear what the results are, but when they come out I'll be sure to take them with a grain of salt," said Kelly Hyndman, an intellectual property attorney with Sughrue Mion PLLC.
For full article, click here and for more in-depth treatment of Intellectual Ventures' projects, see Malcolm Gladwell's article In the Air, Who Says Big Ideas are Rare? here.
