Here are some of the proposed executive actions from 2013 which I thought were interesting.
1) Making "real party in interest the new default," which would mitigate the problem of having shell corporations and legal maneuvering hide those who truly stand to gain by winning the case, will increase transparency in patent litigation and make trolls think twice before attempting a lawsuit.
2) Empowering downstream users, which means that "Main Street" and ordinary people won't be blamed or targeted in patent lawsuits, is a measure that will significantly reduce the effect that trolls have on regular people who use their products as instructed.
http://patentlyo.com/patent/2014/02/reform-executive-action.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XscWuM4cYkA
Point number two is important in my opinion, but I am not sure how much patent trolls really target the average Joe. The measures that are taken to affect the amount that trolls target corporations and small businesses are the more impactful ones, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI agree that trolls are likelier to go after companies rather than individuals, because they're easier targets. As Professor Lavian said in lecture, a company sued for patent infringement has, on average, $5 million to lose. Considering this huge sum, it makes sense that they'd rather settle for a few million dollars to make the trolls go away.
DeleteIndividuals, on the other hand, would be way harder to pursue. A troll attacking a single corporation would deal with only its lawyers and executives, but the same troll would have to send thousands of letters to individuals if they want to target the average Joe.