When it comes to patents, there’s something the high-tech and pharmaceutical industries should agree on: how to stop the damage caused by patent assertion entities (PAEs).
PAEs – or “patent trolls” – are entities that acquire patents from sources, such as bankrupt businesses, and seek to sue for infringement of those patents without any intent to manufacture the patented product in question. The lawsuits, though sometimes frivolous, can cause significant financial harm to the targets – not to mention large opportunity costs when resources go against defending PAEs.