In short: Patent trolls are firms that don’t produce any merchandise. As a substitute, they purchase up and dangle onto patents only to sue for benefit. It occurs repeatedly, however a Korean e-newsletter issues out that what we see as trolling is in truth a struggle between competitors waged via proxy. It is a attention-grabbing point of view.
A South Korean corporate referred to as Mimir IP is suing US reminiscence maker Micron Era for infringing on its patents. It filed its criticism with the Global Business Fee and the USA District Court docket for the Japanese District of Texas. The lawsuit additionally names a number of firms, together with Tesla, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, as secondary defendants for his or her use of Micron parts.
The Korea Financial Day by day (KED) describes Mimir IP as a non-practicing entity (NPE) – what we name a patent troll. Mimir makes its cash via buying patents after which turning a benefit via suing firms the usage of the patented software or era.
In Might on my own, Mimir purchased about 1,500 patents from SK Hynix. The corporate wasted no time submitting a lawsuit the usage of six involving “circuits, voltage dimension gadgets and non-volatile reminiscence gadgets.” Whilst KED did not point out particular calls for, it estimated repayment may just achieve $480 million if the court docket finally ends up ruling in desire of Mimir IP. The pass judgement on may just additionally pressure the defendants to signal licensing agreements with Mimir.
Corporations incessantly promote patents to trolls to battle competition via proxy. notes KED. Not too long ago, it has spotted an uptick in NPE task possibly brought about via the continuing AI increase. The 3 largest DRAM suppliers – Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron – have all loaded the NPE cannons within the closing 12 months, to be able to talk.
In June 2023, Samsung Electronics handed over rights to 96 of its patents to IKT, an NPE affiliated with Samsung Show. The transfer is regarded as preparation for a proxy felony fight. This assumption is supported via a equivalent deal in 2022 when Intel sued Samsung and TSMC for infringement thru patent control corporate Daedalus High.
Micron would possibly have begun this more moderen fight when it offered about 400 patents to NPE Lodestar Licensing Team in March. It used to be the primary time in 11 years that Micron offloaded a cache of patents to a conserving corporate. Officers speculate that the Mimir lawsuit may well be a preemptive strike because it looks as if Micron is making ready for equivalent felony movements.
“SK Hynix and Micron are DRAM competitors. The battle over trade hegemony is spreading past era festival to patent competition,” an unnamed trade reliable informed KED.
It’ll be attention-grabbing to look if Lodestar certainly information an infringement lawsuit within the instant long run. This point of view provides a complete other point of view to patent trolls and their doubtful movements.
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