IV. NPE and Domestic industryNPE»P¥»¦a²£·~
Discussed below are common issues NPEs face when attempting to
establish a nexus between the licensing investments and the asserted
patent(s) as well as the substantiality of the relevant investments.¤U±°Q½×ªº¬O¸Õ¹Ï«Ø¥ß±ÂÅv§ë¸ê©M¨tª§±M§Q¤§¶¡ªº³sµ²¥H¤Î¬ÛÃö§ë¸êªº¹êÅé©Ê®É¡ANPE±Á{ªº±`¨£°ÝÃD¡C
A. Nexus to Asserted Patent
A.³sµ²¦Ü¨tª§±M§Q
In some cases, NPEs may acquire and hold a wide range of
patents related to different technologies and spanning multiple
jurisdictions.¦b¬Y¨Ç±¡ªp¤U¡A NPE¥i¯àÀò¨ú©M«ù¦³¯A¤Î¤£¦Pªº§Þ³N©M¸ó¶V¦hÓºÞÁÒÅvªº¼s¤j½d³òªº±M§Q¡CHowever, as discussed above, the
Commission requires a complainant to establish a nexus between licensing
investments and the asserted patent(s).µM¦Ó¡A¦p¤Wz°Q½×ªº¡A¸Ó©eû·|n¨Dì§i«Ø¥ß±ÂÅv§ë¸ê©M¨tª§±M§Q¤§¶¡ªº³sµ²¡C
Thus, an NPE likely cannot
rely on simply citing generalized patent portfolio licensing expenditures or
even general patent familiesâ£á™ licensing expenditures but, instead, will
likely have to provide evidence of specific efforts to license the asserted
patent(s).¦]¦¹¡ANPE¥i¯à¤£¯à¨Ì¿à©ó¥u¬O¤Þ¥Î¼s¸qªº±M§Q²Õ¦X±ÂÅv¤ä¥X¡A©Î¬Æ¦Ü¤@¯ë±M§Q®a±Úªº±ÂÅv¤ä¥X¡A¦ý¬O¡A¬Û¤Ïªº¡A¥i¯à±N¥²¶·´£¨Ñ¥Î©ó±ÂÅv¨tª§±M§Qªº¨ãÅé§V¤OªºÃÒ¾Ú¡C¦b¤@¨ÇNPE±M§Q²Õ¦Xªº³W¼Ò©M½d³ò¤U¡A³o¤@ÂI¤×¨ä«n¡CAll other things being equal, a
smaller number of patents in a portfolio will likely assist in establishing a
stronger nexus to the asserted patent(s).©Ò¦³¨ä¥Lªº¨Æ±¡³£¬O¥µ¥ªº¡A§ë¸ê²Õ¦X¤¤¼Æ¶q¸û¤pªº±M§Q¥i¯à·|À°§U»P¨tª§±M§Q«Ø¥ß¤@Ó§ó±j¦³¤Oªº³sµ²¡CBut for relatively large or
geographically diverse portfolios, simply citing to expenses incurred in
connection with efforts involving the portfolio are not likely to be adequate
without some effort to tie those expenses to the individual asserted
patent(s).¦ý¬O¹ï©ó¤ñ¸û¤jªº©Î¦hÓ¦a²z¦ì¸mªº²Õ¦X¡A¥u¬O¤Þ¥Î»P¯A¤Î§ë¸êªº§V¤O³sµ²µo¥Íªº¶O¥Î¡A¦Ó¨S¦³±N¨º¨Ç¶O¥Î»P¿W¥ßªº¨tª§±M§Q³sµ²ªº¤@¨Ç§V¤O¡A¥i¯à¤£¥R¤À¡CThis problem is exacerbated for
NPEs that license solely on a portfolio-wide basis, and whose licensing
activities would likely relate to the entire portfolio.¹ï©ó¥u¦b²Õ¦X½d³òªº°ò¦¤W±ÂÅv¡B¦Ó¨ä±ÂÅv¦æ¬°¥i¯à·|¯A¤Î¨ì¾ãÓ§ë¸ê²Õ¦XªºNPE¡A³oÓ°ÝÃD§ó´c¤Æ¡CThis may create a significant hurdle for an NPE to overcome in
attempting to demonstrate a sufficient nexus to the asserted patent(s).³o¥i¯à·|¹ï©ó§JªA¸Õ¹Ïªí²{¥X»P¨tª§±M§Qªº¥R¤À³sµ²ªºNPE³Ð³y¤@ÓÅãµÛªº»Ùê¡C
¤j©M¦h¼Ë¤Æªº±M§Q²Õ¦X¥i¯à·|¾ÉPNPEªº¨ä¥L°ÝÃD¡CFor example, evidence may be lacking as to whether any of its
licensees actually employs the patented technology.¨Ò¦p¡A¥i¯à¯Ê¥F¨ä¥ô¦ó³Q±ÂÅv¤H¬O§_¹ê»Ú±Ä¥Î±M§Q§Þ³NªºÃÒ¾Ú¡CIn addition, the asserted patent(s) may
never have been explicitly mentioned in any license negotiations.¦¹¥~¡A¨tª§±M§Q¥i¯à±q¨Ó¨S¦³³Q©úÅã¦a¦b¥ô¦ó±ÂÅv½Í§P¤¤´£¤Î¡C¦b±ÂÅv°Q½×¤¤¡AA failure to understand the
relative importance of each asserted patent as compared to other, non-accused
patents in licensing discussions may result in a weaker nexus.¤£À´±o¨CÓ¨tª§±M§Q»P¨ä¥L«D³Q§i±M§Q¤ñ¸ûªº¬Û¹ï«n©Ê¡A¥i¯à·|¾ÉP¸û®zªº³sµ²¡CFinally, some NPEs may try to
establish the value contributed by the asserted patent(s) to the portfolio by
employing economic analyses such as patent citation counts.³Ì«á¡A¤@¨ÇNPE¥i¯àÂǥѱĥΦp±M§Q³Q¤Þ¥Î¦¸¼Æªº¸gÀÙ¤ÀªR¡A¹Á¸Õ«Ø¥ß¥Ñ¨tª§±M§Q¹ï§ë¸ê²Õ¦X°^Ämªº»ùÈ¡CSuch approaches need to be
vetted carefully before being relied upon to establish a nexus.³o¨Ç¤èªk¦b³Q¨Ì¾a¨Ó«Ø¥ß³sµ²¤§«e¡A»Ýn³Q¥J²Ó¼f®Ö¡C
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