The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on defending civil liberties in the digital world and a proponent of anti-troll patent reform, said more than 1,720 people have signed its Public Interest Patent Pledge to persuade universities not to sell or license their patents to patent assertion entities, though not a single university has [...]
Regents of the University of Minnesota have filed an enforcement action against Gilead Sciences Inc., alleging direct and indirect infringement of a patent related to the drug sofosbuvir, a treatment for hepatitis C virus, under the brand names Sovaldi, Harvioni and Epclusa. The action filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis alleges Gilead’s sale of [...]
A judge in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas ordered Samsung Electronic Co. Ltd. and affiliates to pay $20.9 million in damages to Imperium IP Holdings (Cayman) Ltd., a non practicing entity, after approving a near tripling the original $6.97 million jury award because of a finding of willful infringement. The [...]
Erich Spangenberg, the founder and owner of IP Navigation Group, who owns a 16.3% stake in Marathon Patent Group Inc. (MARA), is betting that with no end in sight to the three-year depression in the U.S. patent market, the best returns for Marathon’s patent enforcement business in the future will be found in China. Spangenberg [...]
Private equity giant Fortress Investment Group agreed to amend for a fourth time its $11 million debt and revenue share agreement with Inventergy Global Inc. (INVT), giving the struggling patent licensing company more time to execute on its strategy of enforcing patents and signing commercialization agreements with startups. Campbell, California-based said on Thursday, Aug. 25 [...]
ParkerVision Corp. (PRKR), the patent licensing company run by CEO Jeffrey Parker, said on Monday Aug. 22 its board awarded Parker and two other senior executives restricted stock units based on industry peer group assessments and the lack of any equity awards for executives since 2012. Jacksonville, Florida-based ParkerVision said the board awarded Parker 80,000 [...]
High Frequency Trading Systems LLC, a non-practicing entity controlled by Erik Stamell, a managing partner of business lenders Credibly and Retail Capital LLC, switched to new counsel on its latest enforcement action against MarketAxess LLC for infringement of a patent related to rebrokering orders on trading systems. Allen, Texas-based High Frequency hired the law firm [...]
Acacia Research Corp. (ACTG), the patent licensing company run by Executive Chairman Louis Graziadio, is providing up to $50 million in funding to Veritone Inc., a provider of cloud-based Artificial Intelligence media technology. Newport Beach, Calif.-based Acacia will provide $20 million in initial working capital through a convertible investment, the terms of which were not [...]
VirnetX Holding Corp. (VHC), the patent licensing company that last month saw a $625.6 million jury award against Apple Inc. (APPL) vacated by a federal court judge in Tyler, Texas filed a motion for reconsideration that patent market observers described as a long shot and and as a way to preserve certain issues for appeal. [...]
A rich history of innovation and billions of dollars spent on developing technology and protecting it from patents can't immunize Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), Blackberry Ltd.(BBRY) and Cantor Fitzgerald from being called a patent troll as they look to monetize their portfolios. Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo! is trying to sell its portfolio of 4,000 non-core patents for [...]
