Today, more than 60 entrepreneurs wrote to Congress demanding Congress do something about the growing threat patent assertion entities are creating for the startup community. Led by Engine Advocacy and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, these entrepreneurs are joining CCIA in supporting the reintroduction of the SHIELD Act by Representatives DeFazio and Chaffetz today.
The text of the letter by the entrepreneurs, as well as a list of all the signatories is below.
Dear Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Conyers,
We, the undersigned, write today as entrepreneurs, investors, and innovators in support of the Saving High-tech Innovators from Egregious Legal Disputes (SHIELD) Act and other legislative measures aimed at reducing costly litigation created by non-practicing entities, often referred to as patent trolls. Congress should consider measures that shift incentives away from those who game the system and toward an innovative economy and competitive market.
As President Obama acknowledged earlier this month, patent trolls, “essentially leverage and hijack” patents originally issued to others in an effort to “extort” money through litigation. Young, innovative companies are increasingly targets of these lawsuits. While big companies paid much of the $29 billion in direct costs resulting from activities by patent trolls in 2011, the costs made up a larger share of small companies’ revenue. In fact, the majority of companies targeted by patent trolls have less than $10 million in revenue.
Without startups, there would have been no net job growth in the United States over the last two decades. Congress needs to make measures like the SHIELD Act a priority in 2013 so that innovative companies and entrepreneurs can continue to grow without the threats posed by non-practicing entities. Congress must take action and fix 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. problem. We urge the committee to call hearings on 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. litigation and to solicit information from the innovation community at-large.
Sincerely,
Nathan Allen
Four First NamesLuis Arbulu
HatteryJoen Asmussen
Automattic Inc.Seth Bannon
AmicusJames R Bazet
Cobra Electronics CorporationMatthew Bellows
Yesware, IncPaul Berberian
Orbotix, Inc.Aaron N. Block
BayRu LLCMatthew Y. Blumberg
Return Path, Inc.Brad Burnham
Union Square VenturesDavid Cohen
TechStarsJessica Cole
Roammeo, Inc.Dave Copps
PureDiscoveryMark Cuban
Dallas MavericksRutul Davè
Bright Funds, Inc.Pete Davies
Automattic IncChristian Dawson
Internet Infrastructure CoalitionDerek Dukes
DipityMat Ellis
CloudabilityEdward Engler
Pittsburgh Equity PartnersTim Enwall
Mobiplug Networks, IncBrad Feld
Foundry GroupRandReasonable and Non-Discriminatory. See FRAND. Fishkin
SEOmozChris Franks
MoblifyWilliam Randolph Fry
Fry’s Electronics, Inc.Nick Hamze
Automattic Inc.Erick Hitter
Automattic IncTrenidad Hubbard
Game Face Sports International, LLCTerry Floyd Johnson
Showdown RoyalJeevan Kalanithi
SifteoSeth Levine
Foundary GroupJohn Levisay
Sympoz Inc.Benjamin Lewis
The MadCelt StudiosDavid Mandell
PivotDeskMichael Masnick
Floor64, Inc.Ryan McIntyre
Foundry GroupJosh Mendelsohn
HatteryJason Mendelson
Foundry GroupDavid Merrill
SifteoJesse Miller
Attachments.meChristopher Neumann
Datahero, Inc.George Northup
Memeo Inc.Ethan Rishon Oberman
SpiderOak, Inc.Alexis Ohanian
Scott Petry
Authentic8Daniel Pidgeon
StarpowerLamar Porter
CIKI, Inc.Ian C Rogers
Daisy, A Beats by Dre CompanyToni Schneider
Automattic Inc.Paul Sieminski
Automattic IncKeith Lloyd Smith
BigDoorJesse Suchmann
DIGITASSteven Tiffen
The Tiffen CompanyJoshua To
HatteryMax Uhlenhuth
SilviaTerraElizabeth Urello
Automattic IncAlexander Shalek White
Next Big SoundVictor Wong
PaperGSkylar Woodward
Trumo, Inc.Adam Wooley
Brute LabsGary Yacoubian
Specialty Technologies, LLC dba SVSJun Zhang
Vercury Inc.