And The Survey Says…

We’re avid followers of the work of Assistant Professor Colleen Chien (Santa Clara University Law School) when it comes to patent trolls / “patent assertion entities” (PAE). And so, we were particularly interested to read recent reports of a SCU report on “Best Practices in Patent Litigation Survey” in theChicago Tribune.Surveying in-house counsel (primarily at large technology companies), Professor Chien found that:

More than 90 percent reported that patent claims from PAEs had affected them financially or distracted from their core businesses.

More than 80 percent said their customers had received PAE demands because the customers used or implemented products that were accused of violating a patent, and almost 40 percent said the claim had resulted in a change to the product.

About one-quarter of the companies surveyed said claims from PAEs lost them revenue or customers, or caused a delay reaching an operational milestone. About 12 percent said they had to tweak their business strategy as a result of a claim.

Around 8 percent said claims had caused them to delay hiring, or to exit a business line or business altogether.

Posted by Stacy Stitham