Bonum Certa Men Certa

IAM Continues Promoting Patent Trolls and Large Corporations' Interests, New Harvard Study Explains Why Small Business Employment is Harmed the Most

Lobbying by front/pressure groups disguised as news sites versus the actual facts, which were recently studied by the Harvard Business School Working Knowledge

Harvard HBS



Summary: More examples of the ongoing "reputation management" by IAM, on behalf of partners and a target audience; A new Harvard HBS study about the real, dire impact of patent trolls

Whenever IAM says "NPEs" it means patent trolls. Everyone knows that IAM is in the business of softening the image of paying stakeholders, including trolls, the EPO, and so on; we often use the analogy of an ATM; some deposit subscription money or event sponsorship in order to later withdraw influence, inaccurate public perception, puff pieces and so on. And watch what is coming; like those that pay IAM to launder their reputation, trolls collectively improve their image through sites like IAM. We don't mean to be rude but merely to point out what IAM stands for; it's like a lobbying site, not a news site. Not too long ago the EPO's PR firm deposited some money at IAM's coffers and they seem to be getting their money's worth.



"The term "value-creation effort" is a euphemism for litigation, usually against vulnerable firms."Here is Richard Lloyd, one of their biggest proponents of patent trolls (others are too, but to a lesser degree), writing about Via Licensing (just a troll or a front for a practicing company). This other new article from IAM teaches us that Broadcom wants to be another Qualcomm (another patent bully) and we believe, based on recent reports, that Softbank (new owner of ARM) is increasingly doing the same thing. Gradually. The trend seems to be the setup of patent-asserting proxies, which are essentially trolls that are immune from legal retaliation (balance of powers). "Broadcom," IAM explains, "launched a number of patent infringement lawsuits against Asian and US companies this week, in what looks to be the Singapore-based chipmaker’s first concerted assertion campaign since its reconfiguration through merger last year. The litigation is the latest step in an escalating value-creation effort on the part of the new entity."

The term "value-creation effort" is a euphemism for litigation, usually against vulnerable firms. Herein lies the big problem. They cannot even afford to challenge so many patents, hence their knees buckle and they cough out 'protection' money. Hallmark of trolling!

As the figures serve to show, trolls are typically motored by software patents so in order to get rid of both, remove the latter.

United for Patent Reform took note of this new study about "Patent Trolls and Small-Business Employment" (paper title).

"New study by @HarvardHBS finds legislation to combat #patent trolls has positive economic impact on tech startups," it summarised and here is the complete abstract:

Patent trolls are organizations that own patents but do not make or use the patented technology directly, instead using their patent portfolios to target firms with patent-infringement claims. This paper provides evidence that state anti-troll laws have had a net positive effect for small firms in high-tech industries. There is no significant effect for larger or non-high-tech firms.


Put in simple terms, small businesses suffer the most and the litigation industry gains the most. This is relevant to the debates about the UPC, which would definitely attract trolls. Revisit this position paper from the European Digital SME Alliance.

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