Tag Archives: monopoly

US patent lawsuits now dominated by ‘trolls’ -study

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For the first time,individuals and companies that do not themselves make anything -commonly known as “patent trolls” – are bringing the majority ofU.S. patent lawsuits, according to a study by a California lawprofessor.

The sharp increase in this type of lawsuit serves as amilestone likely to exacerbate the tension over patent issuesand increase calls for patent reform and scrutiny of the system.

This year, about 61 percent of all patent lawsuits filedthrough Dec. 1 were brought by patent-assertion entities, orindividuals and companies that work aggressively andopportunistically to assert patents as a business model ratherthan build their own technology, according to a paper by ColleenChien, a law professor at Santa Clara University.

via reuters.com

Innovation, really.

Mobile Carriers Warn of ???Spectrum Crisis??? – Others See Hyperbole

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The reason spectrum is treated as though it were finite is because it is still divided by frequencies — an outdated understanding of how radio technology works, he said. “I hate to even use the word ‘spectrum,’ ” he said. “It’s a 1920s understanding of how radio communications work.

Why, then, wouldn’t carriers want to use these newer technologies that cause frequencies to not interfere? Because licensing spectrum is a zero-sum game. When a company gets the license for a band of radio waves, it has the exclusive rights to use it. Once a company owns it, competitors can’t have it.

Mr. Reed said the carriers haven’t advocated for the newer technologies because they want to retain their monopolies.

via nytimes.com