Progressive Policy Institute Urges Left's Support on PAE Legislation

摘要

A report commissioned by the left-leaning Progressive Policy Institute argues that “progressives”rnshould wholeheartedly back efforts to solve the problems caused by abusive patent litigation filed by patentrnassertion entities (http://bit.ly/151Jx1M). PAE lawsuits are “sucking the lifeblood of innovation out ofrnthe American economy,” said Shook, Hardy partner Phil Goldberg, the report’s author, during a conferencerncall on the release the report Tuesday. PAE-initiated litigation has “mushroomed” over the past decadernamid the “perfect storm” caused by the rising number of patents that resulted from the increasing economicrnstrength of software and consumer electronics companies, Goldberg said in the report. The U.S.rnPatent and Trademark Office has seen a rapid rise in the number of patent applications over the past 20rnyears, and many consumer electronics include technology covered by hundreds of thousands of patents —rnan average smartphone may hold technology covered by 250,000 patents, the report said. This convergencernof technologies “has created seemingly endless opportunities for patent holders to allege that others’rnproducts are infringing on their patents,” the report said.