(128.) See About OIN, OPEN INNOVATION NETWORK, http://www.openinventionnet-work.com/about-us/(last visited May 22, 2018) ("The Open Invention Network is a shared
defensive patent pool with the mission to protect Linux.").
According to De Vries, patent eligibility developments are critical to in-house counsel's understanding of the strength of their own patent portfolios, developing defensive litigation positions for dealing with non-practicing and competitor assertions alike, and strategizing for pursuing and responding to both competitor and
defensive patent assertions.
The "collector" type is more in line with the concept of a patent troll and is classified further into "patent enforcement company" and "
defensive patent aggregator." Both business models generate profits by winning actions involving patent fees and infringements; they therefore focus on the possibility of patent infringement lawsuits when reviewing a patent.
Other organizations, both commercial and nonprofit, are working together to find new ways to work within the existing system, using such mechanisms as
defensive patent pools, patent commons, and new licensing structures that give participants more or less free access to one another's technology in exchange for a promise not to file infringement claims.
Open Innovation: The
Defensive Patent License As a New Approach to
"The Economics and Controversies of Non-practicing Entities [NPEs]: How NPEs and
Defensive Patent Aggregators Will Change License Market," Part I, Les Nouvelles, March, 55-68, Part II, Les Nouvelles, June, 147-55
At a minimum, these thickets require firms to expend significant resources maintaining large
defensive patent portfolios.
patent holders to use
defensive patent filing strategies and patent
Among those strategies,
defensive patent aggregation strategies involve partnering with companies that buy portfolios of patents that may be of interest to a particular company and paying a membership fee to share in the patent rights.
(30) In a
defensive patent strategy, a business method patent may be useful as a shield if the patent owner is sued and allegations are made that his or her patented system infringes upon an earlier patented system.