NPEs are universities, inventors or patent aggregators whose main aim is to implement their patents through litigation or licences. Previously, NPEs were referred to as patent assertion entities (PAEs) or patent trolls.
Some NPEs engage in fraudulent activities such as suing organisations for patent infringement or licensing patents. However, there are exceptions. Several NPEs help to enforce patents in order to protect legitimate patent holders against infringers and pirates. Sometimes they help inventors safeguard their rights and monetise their inventions by licensing them to companies for royalty payments.
Kinds of NPEs
A. Holding companies
One or more holding companies buy and aggregate patents. They assemble patent portfolios for a futuristic or popular technology which they license to third parties or enforce.
Leading NPEs of this kind include:
- Intellectual Ventures
The American private equity company is a former patent troll that now focuses on the development and licensing of intellectual property. Intellectual Ventures was ranked as one of the top five owners of U.S. patents in 2011. Their products include self-healing concrete and waterless washing machines. The company collaborated with Nvidia and purchased wireless broadband technology patents.
- Acacia Technologies
The New York City based company partners with inventors and universities to license patents that have been infringed. Approximately 95% of their business entails licensing infringed patents to corporations through patent litigation.
B. Universities and research organisations
The model that research institutes and universities apply existed before the term NPE came into use. These entities excel in innovation and making novel inventions but generally don’t have the expertise, resources or funding to develop and monetize them. Therefore they employ technology transfer offices (TTOs) to sell or license their in-house patent portfolio related R & D prototypes. Every highly ranked university that files patents and usually has post-graduate and doctoral specializations belongs to this category.
For instance, leading research institutes in 4G LTE are:
- Electronics & Telecommunications Research Institute
The US firm IpiQ Global ranked ETRI №1 in patent evaluation for 3 years in a row. The non-profit government funded research institute has made significant contributions to LTE- Advanced. With more than 2,500 patent filings, ETRI is one of the prominent research institutes for wireless communication.
- Industrial Technology Research Institute
Taiwan based non-profit research organization ITRI holds 157 4G LTE patents. It is reputed for having some of the best researchers in the world.
Read the complete article on Non-Practicing Entities: What are They and How Do They Work? to know more about their types and patent analyses.
