Patent Litigation Trends - It Pays to be a Patent Troll
A recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers study suggests that nonpracticing entities (NPE), more commonly referred to as patent trolls, are thriving.
The largest award went to Dr. Bruce Saffran who, in 2008, was awarded nearly $432 million in damages (and, not reported in the study, another $69 million in pre-judgment interest awarded by the judge after the trial). A jury found that Boston Scientific Corporation infringed on his drug-eluting stent system patent.
Rambus, a company that at one time actually sold computer memory but now proudly bills itself as “one of the world’s premier technology licensing companies,” was recently awarded $397 million plus future royalties in a final judgment against Hynix Semiconductor. Not to be stopped, Rambus is now pursuing damages against NVIDIA, a maker of computer graphics chips. A favorable decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) found three of five asserted Rambus patents to be valid, enforceable, and infringed by NVIDIA.
Some other highlights of the study include:
• Damages awards for NPEs have averaged more than double those for practicing entities since 1995.
• Annual median damages award has ranged from $2.2 to $10.6 million, with no discernible trend since 1995.
