Contact us
London:
4 More London Riverside
London SE1 2AU
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7940 3600
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7378 9680
Bristol:
1 Redcliff Street
Bristol BS1 6NP
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 117 925 3030
Fax: +44 (0) 117 925 3530
Midlands:
Nicholas Wilson House
Dormer Place
Leamington Spa
Warwickshire CV32 5AE
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 1926 310700
Fax: +44 (0) 1926 335519
Sheffield:
Electric Works
Sheffield Digital Campus
Sheffield S1 2BJ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 114 273 3400
Fax: +44 (0) 114 275 5788
Munich:
Steinerstr. 15/building A
D-81369 Munich
Germany
Tel: +4989 502224 020
What to do
If you are concerned about the risk presented by PAEs,
we recommend that you take steps to protect yourself,
by identifying potentially relevant patents and finding
a way of reducing the threat they pose. That might
involve buying or licensing such patents, or alternatively
building up a library of potentially relevant prior art
that could be deployed to challenge the validity of any
such patents. Your usual Withers & Rogers attorney
would be happy to advise you on this.
There is some concern that the forthcoming Unified Patent Court
(UPC), which will provide a one-stop shop for litigating a single patent
across much of Europe, may be an attractive option for PAE litigation.
In particular, a threat of an injunction that is effective throughout
Europe could encourage many manufacturers faced with a threat
of litigation to pay the requested licence fee. The possibility of
German-style bifurcation could further strengthen the PAEs’ position.
Having said that, the UPC might also provide a useful way to fight PAEs,
by providing a single, low-cost, procedure, similar to EPO opposition
proceedings, which could be used to knock out a PAE’s patent
Europe-wide. Since one of the PAE’s weapons is the threat of expensive
litigation, cheaper litigation may well encourage companies to take on
the PAEs and challenge their infringement claims and the validity of their
patents rather than pay the requested licence fees.
Many commentators believe that the possibility of pan-European
injunctions for patent infringement will prove irresistible to PAEs, and
will lead to a significant increase in PAE activity in Europe. It certainly
seems likely that PAEs will be keen to expand their operations into
Europe once the UPC is up and running, though whether there will
be a sustained increase in PAE activity in Europe will ultimately depend
on how willing the UPC will be to grant pan-European injunctions to
non-practising entities. Only time will tell on that point.
A bridge across the
Atlantic for patent trolls?
or John-Paul Rooney
To find out more
contact Chris Froud
