Tag: patent abuse
When Does “Without Ads” Mean “With Ads”? When You Want To Abuse A Patent
Funimation is a successful anime streaming company. It has a monthly subscription tier, which is ad-free, and a free tier, which includes advertisement. This week, failed company Firtiva filed a l...
NPEs at the ITC Illustrate Flaws in U.S. Trade Court
This week, an Irish non-practicing entity (NPE)’s lawsuit against multiple U.S. companies got the go-ahead from a U.S. trade court designed to protect U.S. companies from unfair foreign competition....
Huawei Moves Ahead With Aggressive Licensing Posture
Reports emerged today that Huawei has demanded over $1 billion in patent license payments from Verizon for its cellular network patents.
As I wrote in April, Huawei has the potential to abuse its s...
If A Free Patent Portfolio License Sounds Too Good To Be True—It Is
Non-practicing entities (NPEs) are generally companies with only one asset—their patents. So why would an NPE give away licenses to the only things it can generate value from? If it seems too go...
Using A Trade Court To Avoid Antitrust And FRAND: Qualcomm At The ITC
The first Apple/Qualcomm International Trade Commission (ITC) case is about to kick into high gear, with the prehearing conference scheduled for Friday and the hearing (essentially the equivalent of a...