As we’ve noted, the FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez recently proposed doing a 6(b) study on the patent assertion entity business model. The proposed study has the potential to get us information about how patent trolls operate that would be nearly impossible to get without litigation.
MLex is reporting (subscription required) that FTCU.S. Federal Trade Commission. An independent regulatory agency charged with consumer protection and competition policy, which conducted several influential studies on how patents work in practice. Authored several key studies: 2003’s To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy [PDF] and 2011’s The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition [PDF]. Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen indicated last week after a speech at the Chamber of Commerce that she believes that a 6(b) study to examine the patent trollAn entity in the business of being infringed — by analogy to the mythological troll that exacted payments from the unwary. Cf. NPE, PAE, PME. See Reitzig and Henkel, Patent Trolls, the Sustainability of ‘Locking-in-to-Extort’ Strategies, and Implications for Innovating Firms. industry would be “appropriate.” It takes three votes to initiate the study, though.
One Commissioner who hasn’t said anything publicly about a 6(b) study on patent trolls is Commissioner Julie Brill.
Well, we may learn her views soon enough. This Wednesday (7/31), there’s a panel discussion sponsored by the American Constitution Society entitled “Patent Assertion Entities: Helping or Hurting Innovation?”
Commissioner Brill is one of the panel speakers, along with Rebecca Kelly Slaughter from Senator Schumer’s office and David Balto, a regular contributor here at Patent Progress.
I have no doubt that the subject of an FTCU.S. Federal Trade Commission. An independent regulatory agency charged with consumer protection and competition policy, which conducted several influential studies on how patents work in practice. Authored several key studies: 2003’s To Promote Innovation: The Proper Balance of Competition and Patent Law and Policy [PDF] and 2011’s The Evolving IP Marketplace: Aligning Patent Notice and Remedies with Competition [PDF]. study will come up. If there’s news to report, we’ll let you know.
