Changes

After: Innovation Act removes a provision that prohibits a patent from being deemed invalid based on novelty, prior art, or nonobvious subject matter solely because a defense is raised or established based on prior commercial use.

Historically, as a fraction of issued patents, reported litigation rates in the first part of the 19th century exceeded that of the last two decades by about a factor of five.

Patent litigation intensities in recent years had not exceeded those experienced during the 20th century. Rather , patent litigation surges are consistent with major shifts in technological developments, which introduce novel terms and uncertainty in patent claims and require infrimgement analysis of novel and less understood products.

[https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/atr/legacy/2012/12/10/290073.pdf]

We need to make a distinction between NPEs and PAEs (otherwise known as patent trolls). These terms are often used interchangeably but universities and startups are included under the definition of a non-practicing entity. If you define a Practicing Assertion Entity (PAE) as a company that asserts patents on existing products as a business model, then you separate universities and startups from PAEs, inventor monetizers, and special purpose patent monetizers.