Out-Law News 1 min. read

Microsoft joins prior art research programme


Microsoft has become the first company to join a scheme that aims to help companies avoid costly legal battles over their use of patents, according to the scheme's creators.

The Litigation Avoidance program has been created to battle claims by companies which buy patents only to use in law suits. These organisations are often referred to as 'patent trolls'.

The scheme offers researchers payments if they discover material that will invalidate a rival's patent claim.

It gives members help with uncovering evidence that an invention is not new, known as 'prior art'. Patents are granted for inventions that are new, take an inventive step that is not obvious and are useful to industry.

Article One, the company behind the scheme, claims that it will help its users to defend against patent infringement claims.

"[Patent trolls] continue to actively target large technology companies and often with portfolios of questionable quality," Bart Eppenauer, Chief Patent Counsel at Microsoft said, according to the Article One blog.  

"Article One's Litigation Avoidance program is a powerful tool to fight this challenge.  Litigation Avoidance gives businesses another tool to address patent quality issues prior to litigation to reduce risk and potential litigation cost," Eppenauer said, according to Article One.

"Together with other Litigation Avoidance members, we will be able to better address questionable patents in the pre-litigation phase to deter litigation.  We are excited to add this to our patent defence strategy," Eppenauer said, according to Article One.

Researchers will provide evidence of patent invalidity with the best evidence earning the researchers incentive payments and profit-sharing benefits, according to the Article One website.

"By offering premium compensation, we incentivize our global researcher community to uncover key evidence," a statement on the Article One website said.

"And when our global search does not uncover new patent validity evidence, patent claims for truly original innovations are intrinsically strengthened," Article One said.

"We want to reduce the number of low-quality patents being asserted in a systematic way," Cheryl Milone, Article One Chief Executive, said, according to a Thomson Reuters report.

"There's so much noise out there. We think that if you reduce the noise, you improve patent quality," she said.

Members of the Litigation Avoidance program can request a study into its use of a patent, Milone said, according to Thomson Reuters. Article One can also determine what patents patent trolls may look to sue companies for using, she said, according to Thomson Reuters.

Technology law news is also available from Bootlaw, a free resource for technology start-ups, with regular events hosted by Pinsent Masons.

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