Unified Patents
Unified Patents is a member-based organization whose goal is promoting innovation by protecting against frivolous patent litigation and reducing the number of non-practicing entity patent assertions in specific technology areas.
Background
Instances of NPE patent litigation have grown recently: NPEs accounted for the majority of patent infringement litigation in the U.S. in 2012, compared to less than a quarter in 2007. This is because NPEs can achieve a quick return on investment since most companies settle rather than fight, even if they believe the assertion to be invalid.Unified permits small and large companies alike to become members. Smaller members act as an early warning system by notifying Unified of NPE demand letters in exchange for notifying Unified if they ever plan to sell a Patent to an NPE. Unified defines discrete technology zones for members to join, including cloud storage, content delivery, or electronic payments to ensure Unified’s deterrence is focused.
Unified also directly challenges the validity of NPE patents. By filing several inter partes reviews against patents owned by NPEs, Unified seeks to increase the costs that NPEs face when asserting invalid patents and to deter future NPEs from doing the same thing again. Unified also publishes monthly newsletters summarizing NPE activity against small businesses and technology companies.