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European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME and IP2Innovate launch a joint campaign to fight patent abuse by Patent Assertion Entities

BRUSSELS April 26th 2021 -  European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME and IP2Innovate today launched a joint campaign to fight patent abuse by Patent Assertion Entities (PAEs), otherwise known as patent trolls.

The two trade groups will shortly open a whistle blower line of communication to allow executives who have experienced a PAE attack to talk about it anonymously. 

“Most patent attacks go unnoticed. That’s because they are aimed at SMEs that can’t afford to go to court. These victims of patent trolling settle out of court. These are the firms we want to hear from,” said Patrick Oliver, executive director of IP2Innovate.

EU laws designed to discourage frivolous patent suits are often not applied in practice. IP2Innovate and European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME are pushing for better application of these laws.

“If Europe’s patent system is to function properly then it must address the problem of patent trolls,” said Stefan Moritz, Managing Director of European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME, the largest federation of voluntarily associated SMEs in Europe. 

“The first thing policymakers ask us when we see them is “give examples”. We have to explain that when you’ve been attacked and you have settled out of court, you don’t really want to shout about it,” Mr Oliver said.

“The aim with our campaign is to demonstrate that what we do see of patent abuse by PAEs is just the tip of the iceberg,” he added.

“SMEs are the powerhouse of Europe’s economy. If they have to fight off baseless patent attacks then that’s bad for the whole economy, not just the individual firms. Opportunistic attacks like these undermine the whole knowledge transfer process, and it is in Europe’s interests to ensure that EU law is applied and SMEs are defended,” Mr. Moritz said.

To mark World IP Day today, IP2Innovate published an article - supported by European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME - containing two case studies, that give rare insights into patent attacks on SMEs. “Hopefully we will collect more examples of the harm caused to European SMEs by patent trolls,” Mr Moritz said.


Contact:
Patrick Oliver, Executive Director
IP2I – Intellectual Property 2 Innovate
contact@ip2innovate.eu

Stefan Moritz, Managing Director  
European Entrepreneurs CEA-PME
stefan.moritz@cea-pme.com

#SOSPatentAbuse
 

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In a recent  the German Conservatives (CDU/CSU) Elisabeth Winkelmeier-Becker and Ingmar Jung express concerns over abusive litigation practices by patent trolls, which distort the market and undermine Germany’s attractiveness as a business location. They note that in light of the high complexity of modern products, companies can no longer completely rule out the possibility of patent infringements. In this context, an unlimited right to injunctive relief create unwarranted leverage for patent trolls who buy up patents only to assert them against companies and extract disproportionately high settlements. Solutions proposed by CDU/CSU are the introduction of a proportionality test in the German Patent Act as well as a synchronisation of infringement and nullity proceedings.
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