News

Inter Partes Review Stops Patent Trolls in Their Tracks

Lucy Van Schaijik · Jun 3, 2020 ·

As the owner and founder of Queen Tackle, a small North Carolina fishing tackle business I run with my son, we help contribute to the $2 trillion American manufacturing industry. But as a small business, we’re also acutely aware of our bottom line.

I currently have a patent pending, and as someone who speaks to others in similar manufacturing businesses, I know that reforms in the American patent system have played a critical role in our economic resurgence. Undoing these reforms, as some now want to do, would put companies like mine at risk.

Patent-trolls frequently target American manufacturers. This is exactly what I recently experienced. A much larger competitor accused me of patent infringement and filed suit, never even specifying the patent that had allegedly been infringed upon. Challenging this suit has not been cheap. And battling a case like this in the courts is a long, slow process. Many small companies might just give up.

When the Pandemic Passes, Will Congress Remember Manufacturers?

Lucy Van Schaijik · Jun 3, 2020 ·

COVID-19 continues to take huge hits on the American economy, and nearly 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits. Manufacturing has been particularly hard hit. A survey conducted at the beginning of the outbreak by the National Association of Manufacturers found that nearly 80 percent of the industry anticipates a financial impact, and more than 50 percent expect a change in operations as a result of the virus. Still manufacturers are working to address a shortage of medical supplies, despite threats of patent trolls and abusive patent litigation. Let’s put it in context.

Make Patent Reform Part of the Recovery Agenda

Lucy Van Schaijik · Jun 1, 2020 ·

In the face of the twin crises of public health and economic contraction, bold measures are necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19 and bring about a swift recovery.

Washington must also help revive domestic manufacturing and mitigate the risks posed by a supply chain that can be throttled by Chinese Communist Party edicts. Accomplishing all this requires reforming the U.S. patent system.

The basic idea behind protecting patents is sound. It provides innovators with a way to recoup the upfront costs of investment, and owning a patent is a signal of quality that makes startups attractive to investors.

But, as with any other government program, the implementation of this basic idea is vulnerable to being abused, and that abuse results in harm to business growth and economic development.

Patent Trolls Threaten Telemedicine at Worst Possible Time

Lucy Van Schaijik · May 18, 2020 ·

From northern Alaska to islands off Florida—and countless places in between—telemedicine is saving, extending, and improving American lives. As we’ve witnessed the rapid spread of the coronavirus disease in recent weeks, we can see that mobile devices and health applications are playing a critical role in the public health response—from accessing public health information to swift and safe consulting with a health care provider.

Firm wielding Theranos patents asks judge to block coronavirus test [Updated]

Lucy Van Schaijik · May 18, 2020 ·

Back in 2018, the disgraced biotech company Theranos sold its patent portfolio to Fortress Investment Group, a division of Softbank. Now two of those patents have wound up in the hands of a little-known firm called Labrador Diagnostics—and Labrador is suing a company called BioFire Diagnostics that makes medical testing equipment.