Tech giants form group to buy patents

Google is part of a group of tech heavyweights going on the offensive against the threat of patent-infringement lawsuits, The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Sunday evening.

The group, which calls itself the Allied Security Trust, plans to buy up key intellectual property before it is obtained by parties that might use it against them, the newspaper reported. Joining Google in the group are Verizon Communications, Cisco Systems, Ericsson, and Hewlett-Packard, among others.

Each company will pay about $250,000 to join and then put about $5 million into escrow for future patent purchases, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter

The organization is the latest tactic for a tech industry that says it is under attack from "patent trolls" seeking to buy intellectual property to extract royalties from companies that rely on that technology. The Coalition for Patent Fairness, a lobbying group that represents tech companies, reports the number of patent-related lawsuits rose to nearly 2,500 through October of last year from 921 in 1990, the newspaper reported.

A sweeping patent law rewrite backed by seemingly every prominent hardware and software maker was part of that effort, but it stalled in the Senate last month. The so-called Patent Reform Act of 2007 would have curbed the ability of patent holders to obtain what the companies consider disproportionate damage awards, spurring the rise of so-called patent trolls who exist only to extort large payments out of deep-pocketed companies. Microsoft, Google, Cisco, Adobe Systems, Apple, Intel, Symantec, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, eBay, Oracle, and Red Hat were among the high-profile signatories that signed on in support of the bill.

[dascha1]

Patents are only have the problem. You forget that Hoover and Johnson's Wax were both big household names, many moons ago, and worth their weight in gold!

[Len Bullard]

The predictions of pay-to-play patent keiretsu are coming to pass. Compare these to the MPEGs and other consortia that do technical work and have member contributions. This seems to be a pay to play. It would be revealing to read the participation agreements for members who pay their fees. Defensive weaponry becomes offensive quickly.

Let the market beware.

[microg]

Perhaps my memory is foggy but didn't Verizon sue Vonage over patent infringement?

[pjk0]

The irony here is that these Fortune 100 sized corporations are the same ones that have been using patents as a weapon for many years - and it is precisely because of those "deep pockets" of theirs, that they have been able to stifle competition by filing patents on every trivial thing, and then threatening litigation at the drop of a hat whenever someone wants to rollout something like "one button purchasing". (that was an Amazon.com patent)

What really needs to happen is REAL patent reform, in the form of not allowing deep-pocketed corporations to patent thousands of trivial patents on things like software methods and other forms of nonsense that make it impossible for anyone to invent much of anything without fear of patent litigation. As we all know, even if the patent is questionable, the mere threat of litigation from one of these deep-pocketed companies is often enough to quash their smaller would-be competitors.

[wmcloud2]

Movies, music and printed material are protected from encroachment into their intellectual properties. The Constitution also outlines protection of intellectual rights. The companies listed have all attempted and in many cases have realized great profits from the intellectual property of others. (ie. RealNetworks vs. Microsoft) If there is any change to be made to patent law it is to streamline the patent process and strengthen enforcement. It is unconscienable that a patents should take 5 to 10 years to be issued. the last time the governmant diddled with the law it capped the patent life at 20 years. If the patent takes 10 years to issue this time is lost to the patent holder.

[wmcloud2]

Movies, music and printed material are protected from encroachment into their intellectual properties. The Constitution also outlines protection of intellectual rights. The companies listed have all attempted and in many cases have realized great profits from the intellectual property of others. (ie. RealNetworks vs. Microsoft) If there is any change to be made to patent law it is to streamline the patent process and strengthen enforcement. It is unconscienable that a patents should take 5 to 10 years to be issued. the last time the governmant diddled with the law it capped the patent life at 20 years. If the patent takes 10 years to issue this time is lost to the patent holder.