Tim Wilson
SAS Institute is one of the LOT Network pioneers, joining our ranks less than six months after we were founded in 2014. SAS has made it a corporate strategy to aggressively protect itself against patent trolls. In fact, during their RFP process, SAS asks all prospective vendors to detail how they are addressing the patent troll problem.
Why do they care if their vendors are actively combating the patent troll threat? Because a company’s supply chain can be a glaring – and often overlooked – Achilles’ heel. And patent trolls know precisely how to exploit this – this is why 62% of the companies sued by trolls have less than $100 million in annual revenue.
Here’s what Tim Wilson, the Patent Director at SAS Institute, had to say about it in an article he recently wrote for Intellectual Property Watch.
Buying from a supplier at risk of patent assertions increases the vulnerability of our supply chain. Once we buy a product and it’s on our premises, we could be hit by a patent infringement lawsuit related to that item. Even if the supplier provides indemnification, we still have to deal with the litigation process and all of the potential negative outcomes. Therefore, we prefer to work with suppliers that can demonstrate they are thinking about the patent troll problem strategically and not selling patents to patent trolls.
Because of this, SAS encourages its vendors and suppliers to join LOT Network. Doing so demonstrates that they take the PAEs threat seriously, and that they are not interested in selling patents to them. It also directly helps protect SAS, as Tim explained above.
I’ve always said that as more companies join LOT Network, the stronger we all become. As Tim’s article clearly demonstrates, the same can be said for you… and all the companies in your supply chain.
Please feel free to reach out should you have any thoughts or questions about how to implement similar measures in your organization.