They keep saying "ethical" (they've even just trademarked the word) as that's the very opposite of what they are and it's part of a PR strategy/charm offensive

Summary: For the second time in about a week IAM is posting advertising puff pieces for a new patent troll which "promises a big litigation play within a fortnight" (that's basically a threat, penned by IAM)

WHEN IAM isn't just the megaphone of corrupt managers at the EPO (e.g. Battistelli, who writes for IAM, pays IAM and keynotes their events) it is acting as a press partner or megaphone of trolls, even lowering the paywall for them. iPEL is an extortion racket disguised as "for small businesses", but IAM keeps advertising these people, even by speaking directly to them. This patent trolls' lobby, which is connected to corrupt people like Battistelli, promotes this troll once again in a matter of one week, letting the mask basically slip and showing the true nature of IAM. From their latest 'ad' for iPEL:

The boss of an NPE that launched in late June with $100 million of funding has said that within the next two weeks it will be filing “extremely large patent infringement lawsuits in China, against a major consumer products manufacturer”.

Brian Yates, the CEO of iPEL, told IAM that the firm will be “asserting a minimum of 50 distinct patents against accused products inclusive of each of their major product lines”, and predicted that the case will result in “China’s first damages award above $100 million”.

[...]

iPEL was co-founded by Yates, a long-time monetisation figure who formerly led Prognosis IP, and Rasheed McWilliams, who most recently led the litigation group at Cotman IP Law Group. It is promoting itself as an ‘Ethical NPE’, a term it has trademarked. In addition to offering free licences to small businesses and start-ups with annual revenues of less than $5 million, it has laid out a set of principles it will follow. Among these is a commitment not to litigate without first making an operating company aware of its existence and inviting an amicable dialogue under an NDA.

This blog already reported on patent transactions made by entities affiliated with the firm back in March, before its formal launch. In a series of assignments recorded at the USPTO, iPEL picked up patents from ZTE, Panasonic and a number of entities controlled by Transpacific IP head Guy Proulx.

[...]

Despite its recent launch, iPEL is already doing deals, Yates confirmed: “That revenue has been generated outside of litigation, with companies that recognise the value of iPEL’s patents. That is our preferred method of doing business – but, the reality is that litigation is often necessary.”

That's just the 'protection' money rhetoric. Notice, as per the above, that they even trademarked "Ethical NPE". That's like Donald Trump trademarking "Honest businessman". How much of that "$100 million of funding" will be channeled/funneled into IAM, e.g. in the form of event "sponsorship"?

Either way, they're about to inflict a lot of damage. 4 days ago Buffalo Business First published a column titled "Fighting back against patent trolls" and here we are seeing IAM gleefully advertising patent trolls (in collaboation with them), having also promoted the UPC on the payroll of the EPO's PR firm (Team UPC is a proponent of trolls, too).

This is rather grotesque and anyone on the payroll of IAM should be utterly ashamed of himself (or herself; they recently hired one female too, the sole female in their team). It's worth noting that many IAM writers left recently, including one female.

"This is rather grotesque and anyone on the payroll of IAM should be utterly ashamed of himself..."It's not really a matter of gender (or nationality); it's about the agenda. The above lady has just published this piece, which IAM summarised as follows: "Oppo acquisition deal with Dolby - involving 240+ patents in 20 families - is the Chinese company's biggest one to date."

Here is the summary:

Oppo has made its largest patent acquisition so far, taking in over 20 patent families - totaling around 240 individual assets covering audio and visual technologies - from Dolby. The transfer of the US rights involved was recorded at the USPTO on 23rd May.

It's not even big news; much bigger patent acquisitions happen all the time. Her colleague Timothy Au wrote about Samsung the other day, adding a slant based on another one of those boring "exclusive analyses" (like the lies he recently spread for Battistelli about patent 'quality'). The "US leads by number of applications for three-dimensional integrated circuit (3D IC) patents," he said, "but it is set to be overtaken by Asia if current growth trends continue, an exclusive analysis for IAM has revealed. Meanwhile, Samsung dominates in this crucial subsector of the semiconductor market by number of applications, and Japan’s Semiconductor Energy Laboratory takes the crown for the highest-quality portfolio."

"EPO workers certainly know about the special relationship between crooked Battistelli and IAM."But that does not speak of the great disparity in terms of patent quality. Not every patent office holds or maintains the same standards, so adding these numbers together would be pseudo-scientific, i.e. business as usual for IAM.

If another word of caution was needed about this site (a front group disguised as a publisher or "news"), the above overly crude promotion of patent trolls ought to be it. EPO workers certainly know about the special relationship between crooked Battistelli and IAM. ⬆