Startup Seeks To Preempt Patent Trolls 117
anaesthetica writes "The WSJ reports that a San Francisco startup is buying up patents with the promise never to assert them in order to help large corporations hedge against patent trolling firms. The company, RPX Corp, receives an annual fee in exchange for licensing the patents it has purchased. Cisco and IBM have already signed up for this service of 'defense patent aggregation.'"
Interesting new business model (Score:1, Interesting)
So they buy up patents that are most likely to cover the technologies already employed by firms, and then offer to the firms to pay a license fee for which in exchange they receive a guarantee that they will not be sued for infringement? That's a novel idea.
While the patent trolls state "I'm going to burn your store down!", these guys clearly say "It's a mighty fine store you have there, I can protect it from being burnt down for only a small fee".
Could we call it the General Patent License? (Score:5, Interesting)
Consideration (Score:4, Interesting)
If they "won't assert their claims" then why do you need to buy a license from them?
A contract, such as the purchase of a patent, requires some sort of consideration [wikipedia.org] in order to be binding. This consideration could be a token amount such as one dollar, or (more likely in this case) it could be only as much money as is needed to maintain the patent pool.
Re:This just in (Score:1, Interesting)
The cost of staff, where some of the staff have 6-digit salaries? I like it.
Days of Our Patents (Score:4, Interesting)
Plot^H^H^H^H History:
1. Government develops the concept of patents to protect the little, lone creator from amoral, robber industries - because even in groups, the creators have no defense against amoral industries. Government protection against business.
2. Developments soar - we're beyond the end-of-day-almost-off-air programming of the 60s that warned one day technology would double every year - technology doubles faster than we can measure.
3. Characters arise to be lionized and demonized in the tech age. They are given primary credit - in the mass mind (including on /.) - for their companies' successes and failures. Creation still in the hands of individuals, despite mass mindset.
4. Charlatans seize upon the opportunity, start trolling patents like crazy. It gets out of hand.
5. A business develops the patent-license-protection-clearinghouse to protect the large, rich businesses from the amoral, robber trolls' abuse of the law - because even in groups, corporations have no protection against the amoral trolls. Business protection against government.
If I invoke the name of Calculon does it help illustrate the point? It's a multi-year-long plot, very boring, very circular, and I'm calling it: Days of Our Patents.
I don't know about you guys, but I signed up decades ago to be a part of this thing called tech - not to become a forced extra in some asinine soap opera - which I fear we are all going to become part of, like it or not, know it or not.
Re:Preempt them (Score:5, Interesting)
I see where this is going...
Company buys up billions of dollars worth of IP (cheaply, due to the business concept), promising never to use it.
Company gets bought out, at a reasonable price considering all they own, since they're "not really the IP owners".
New company decides it's not bound by previous company's ethics, decides to call in the lawyers for the billions of dollars worth of IP.
New company litigates the living shit out of everyone.
New company buys out other companies using the money won from being sued for using their own IP.
New company now owns 50.1% of the world.
Can someone verify the whereabouts of Pinky and The Brain please? I'm getting a little nervous.
Re:Wait a minute... (Score:1, Interesting)
Yeah, competition is tough in the patent troll sector.
But you should come to me, you get a free iPod with every patent I successfully sue you for!
Re:Preempt them (Score:3, Interesting)
I see what you did there. (Score:3, Interesting)
The company, called RPX Corp., buys up patents to keep them from firms that might use them as the basis of lawsuits or to press for licensing payments. Companies that pay a fixed annual fee receive licenses to the patents purchased by RPX...
(emphasis mine)
So they'll buy patents and try to sell you licenses to them, in order to prevent other firms from buying patents to try to sell you licenses to them?
Sounds to me like the only difference between this company and the nasty patent trolls is that they've embraced the One-Bill business model, a la Verizon. I wonder if that's patented...