Tech and auto companies urge EU to crack down on patent trolls
Tech and auto companies including Apple, BMW, Microsoft, and Samsung have urged the European Commission to take action to stop European courts from issuing automatic injunctions in favour of so-called ‘patent trolls’.
In a letter to the new commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, the companies said innovation was being undermined by an imbalance in the European legal system.
“Automatic injunctions make Europe more and more attractive to patent assertion entities (PAEs), also known as ‘patent trolls’. As the litigation environment has become less hospitable to PAEs in theUS, we have witnessed their rise in Europe,” the letter reads.
“These entities do not make, sell or invent anything––they simply exploit patents they have purchased. The EU needs to ensure the measures it has in place are effectively implemented to stop PAEs from exploiting the imbalances in Europe’s patent system,” it adds.
The companies, which also include Adidas, Microsoft, Volkswagen and T-Mobile, urge the Commission to issue new guidelines for courts on when they should issue patent injunctions.
These guidelines should take into account “whether an injunction creates leverage for the patent owner disproportionate to the value of the patented technology,” the letter said.
A total of 35 companies, as well as trade bodies including IP2Innovate and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, signed the letter.
Patrick Oliver, executive director of IP2Innovate, said the Commission needed to step in to stop patent trolls from “gaming the patent system”.
IP2Innovate, a coalition including Google, Daimler, and Adidas, has been active in highlighting the problem of patent trolls.
“The experience of our member companies indicates that Europe’s patent system is not working properly and is undermining Europe’s ability to compete globally in the next frontier of technologies,” Oliver said.
“It’s not just big firms that are targeted—SMEs are also picked on by PAEs. Unjustified product withdrawals can sink a company. They also deprive the public of consumer choice and the benefits of innovation,” he added.
Research from Darts-ip shows that, between 2007 and 2017, lawsuits involving PAEs rose by 17%.
IBM announced earlier this week that it was joining LOT Network, a non-profit focused on combating patent trolls.
"Through our membership in LOT Network, we are joining a group of like-minded organizations that see strong value in protecting the traditional uses of patents,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM’s senior vice president for cloud and computing software.
The letter comes a month after the tech and auto industries also urged the Commission to ensure that standard-essential patents were licensed on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms.
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