Patent Trolls in the World of Semiconductors

Business executives and patent practitioners tend to have similar negative feelings around patent trolls and their letters offering to license sometimes dubious IP. These patent troll entities tend to file a large volume of nuisance lawsuits, which increases legal costs for companies. No industry is immune and these lawsuits impact companies at all levels of semiconductor manufacturing. But besides their ultimate goal of making money using their collection of patents, how do these patent trolls operate? Where do they find their targets? And, most importantly, what should you do when you receive a letter from a patent troll? Nathaniel and Elizabeth are joined on this episode by Pat Muffo, who is a patent attorney and IP litigator. Pat shares his insights and experiences gained from studying, writing about, and battling with patent trolls.