Intel’s lawsuit takes aim at a new aspect of PAEs. That aspect is patent aggregation. Intel and Apple, two big-tech companies, are seeking a court ruling that would essentially hold that the very act of aggregating patents can give rise to antitrust violations. The implications of that could redound far beyond the alleged scourge of “patent trolls.” Indeed, the real targets of Intel’s lawsuit are not PAEs, but rather startups.
Read MoreThe Federal Circuit recently ruled on a case brought by Intellectual Ventures against Capital One ($COF). The case is Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Financial Corp., 2018-1367 (Fed. Cir. Sep. 10, 2019). While the underlying case arose out of IV’s assertion of its patents against Capital One, the appeal focuses on Capital One’s counterclaim that IV was an unlawful monopolist by aggregating a series of patents and asserting them through litigation. Capital One lost the appeal. But the question remains – how much teeth do antitrust counterclaims have against aggregating and enforcing patents through litigation?
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