This is the second post in a series. You can read the first post and the original posts that sparked this discussion (1, 2). Russ Merbeth of Intellectual Ventures and I are having a discussion about, among other things, Intellectual Ventures’ business model and whether it’s good for innovation. I want to acknowledge Mr. Merbeth’s participation…
Tag Archive for Intellectual Ventures
Dear Intellectual Ventures, Part 1: Your Patents Are Worth a Lot Because No One Knows What They Mean
by Matt Levy •
Last Friday, Russ Merbeth of Intellectual Ventures responded to my post regarding the effect of patent infringement on patent trolls. I appreciate Mr. Merbeth’s response; it’s to his credit that he took the time to post it in the comments. I have a few points to make, but in order to keep things manageable, I’m…
More on the Effect of Infringing Troll Patents
by Matt Levy •
Tuesday, I posted about the lack of harm to the economy when a PAE’s patent is infringed. University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor Polk Wagner (@PolkWagner) engaged with the post on Twitter:
The Economy Doesn’t Suffer If a Troll Patent Is Infringed, But an Angel Does Get Its Wings
by Matt Levy •

Last week at a panel discussion, a representative from Intellectual Ventures made a complaint. Why, this person asked, don’t people take into account the negative effect of patent infringement on the economy? This being a blog in the public interest, we are more than happy to help out. We’ll address the question that’s most relevant…
Intellectual Ventures’ Technology Speculation Is Not A Justification for Shell Companies
by Josh Lamel •
During last week’s Department of Justice/Federal Trade Commission workshop on Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), one of the panelists was Peter Detkin. Detkin is a founder of Intellectual Ventures, one of the PAEs we have been critical of on Patent Progress. In the run up to the workshop, Detkin authored a blog post attempting to issue…
USPTO Should Be Applauded for Notice on Patent Transparency
by Josh Lamel •
In a round of good news, the USPTO has published a notice that it will be holding a roundtable on January 11, 2013 to look into regulations to “require greater public transparency concerning the ownership of patent applications and patents.” The deadline for requesting to participate in the roundtable is December 21, 2012, and the deadline…