LOT Network gives start-ups free patents and membership
Non-profit LOT Network has announced two new programmes to “enrich and protect the global start-up community”, in efforts to incentivise innovation and encourage responsible patent use.
LOT, which lists Google, Canon, and Dropbox as its members, announced its new programmes on Thursday, May 10.
Mike Lee, head of patents at Google, said: “We think the protections afforded by LOT should be available to established and start-up companies alike, and do not want cost to be a barrier to participation.”
The first scheme is the Patent Transfer Program, which will allow qualifying start-ups to receive three free patents from LOT. The second is the organisation’s plan to expand free membership to LOT to any operating company which has up to $25 million in annual revenue.
Non-profit LOT protects members from ‘patent trolls’ and patent assertion entities (PAEs). According to LOT, PAEs are typically non-practising entities which do not use a patented invention, but seek to enforce their exclusive rights against others.
Upon becoming a member of LOT, organisations are granted immunity against PAE lawsuits for the life of a patent when another member sells or transfers that patent to a troll or PAE.
Other LOT members include Lenovo, Red Hat, and SAP, and LOT said “billions” has been spent by businesses such as these to create “highly valuable patent portfolios”.
Under LOT’s new plans, the first 200 operating companies in LOT with an annual revenue of $500,000 to $25 million will be eligible to receive patent assets at no cost to the organisation. Companies which received $500,000 to $25 million in financing over the past 18 months are also eligible under the scheme.
Michael Cunningham, executive vice president and general counsel at Red Hat, said: “We understand start-ups have tight budgets and limited resources that they must allocate strategically. LOT is seeking to lend assistance.
“And once the patents are transferred to start-ups under the programme, they have full ownership of the patents, free of charge,” he added.
Previously, free membership was offered to companies with up to $5 million in annual revenue. As the organisation has “experienced tremendous growth from brands including Facebook, Volkswagen, Cisco, Target, Ford, Amazon and more”, LOT said it is now able to broaden the scope of free membership.
Ken Seddon, CEO of LOT, said: “The generosity of our member donors in providing these patents to LOT Network for this programme reflects the spirit of the LOT community.
“It is humbling to see some of the most IP-savvy companies in the world make such a sincere effort to share in their successes with the start-up community,” he added.
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