Recent Changes to the U.S. Patent System have Rigged the System, Making it Easier for Silicon Valley Giants to Invalidate the Patents of Small Inventors and Destroy their Intellectual Property Rights. But in a Key Battle to Watch, One Small Company, Voip-Pal, is Fighting back against Apple and others-and it may Win
BELLEVUE, WA / ACCESSWIRE / May 16, 2017 / CEOCFO Magazine, an independent investment publication that highlights important technologies and companies, today covers the plight of inventors who are battling Silicon Valley giants to protect the value of their patents. In one of many such battles, a small Bellevue, Washington corporation called Voip-Pal (OTCQB: VPLM) is fighting Apple, AT&T, Verizon and Twitter in court over the validity of its patents.
But Voip-Pal is hardly alone. In case after case, small inventors have spent years navigating through the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), having their innovative ideas and patent applications examined by highly qualified and competent patent examiners. Those examiners make sure that the inventions are not "obvious" and that they are truly novel. At the end of that long and difficult process, their patents are allowed and issued by the USPTO.
But large companies, especially the Silicon Valley giants, don't like having to pay small inventors for rights to use those patented technologies. So the giants helped push through a 2012 law called the America Invents Act that set up a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).
Now, the telecommunications and computer industries use the PTAB to challenge the validity of patents, destroying the intellectual property rights of small inventors. The Silicon Valley giants even set up an organization, called Unified Patents, Inc., to prosecute cases at the PTAB.
What's especially frustrating to the small inventors is that the PTAB uses a different, lower standard than the original patent examiners to judge the validity of patents. As a result, the giant companies successfully overturn those painstakingly acquired patents a staggering 84% of the time. Unified Patents brags on its website that "We challenge bad patents and never pay."
It is not surprising, therefore, that many experts believe we have a broken patent system that's rigged against the small inventor.
That's why it's so important that some small inventors are fighting back. In perhaps the most important battle to watch, Voip-Pal, a small company that has invented pioneering technology used by many of the world's largest telecommunication and social networking companies, has taken on Apple, Verizon, and other giants, suing them for billions of dollars (plus punitive damages) for patent infringement.
Voip-Pal has already won one key round in this fight. In a case before the PTAB, Unified Patents tried to invalidate Voip-Pal's intellectual property - and failed.
Now Voip-Pal faces an even tougher test - an effort by Apple itself to challenge the company's patents in another PTAB case. To stack the odds further against Voip-Pal, two of the judges assigned to the case worked for law firms that represented Apple and the third judge formerly worked for AT&T. If the case were decided strictly on the merits, Voip-Pal would be expected to prevail.
But the larger question will be whether or not the new Trump Administration values the creativity and ingenuity of the small inventor - or whether it will do the bidding of big Silicon Valley companies. If it's the latter, then Voip-Pal could be another victim of a rigged system.
Contact:
Bud Wayne
CEOCFO Magazine
570-851-1745
SOURCE: CEOCFO Magazine