Patent trolls understand the economics of defending patent infringement lawsuits. It's a quick and hard lesson for many businesses that receive demand letters or are served with a complaint by a non-practicing entity seeking a nuisance-level payment.
In the past three years, we've seen an increase in the activity of patent trolls targeting small businesses. At MMM, we leverage our vast experience to identify ways to minimize our client's exposure. In certain situations, we've secured a dismissal of the complaint without any payment to the patent troll.
Unfortunately, these bad actors often see small and medium-sized businesses as easy targets, and the ITC's legal forums do nothing to discourage baseless lawsuits. Even the ITC's own data shows that the problem has gotten out of control, with lawsuits filed by patent trolls skyrocketing in the past decade. Now, it's commonplace for business owners to receive threatening letters, which cite absurdly broad or vague patents and offer business owners the choice between huge payments or costly, drawn-out legal action.
