`Unified Patents Inc. v. Bradium Technologies LLC
`IPR2018-00952
`Page 1 of 2
`
`9/8/2018
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`New Venture Enters Patent Fray - WSJ
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`https:/<www. wsJ. com/artlcles/SB100014241278B7323820304578408790085259404
`LAW
`New Venture Enters Patent Fray
`San Francisco Startup Plans to Recruit Companies to Deter Legal Threats Against Its Members
`By Don dark
`Updated April 7, 2013 844 p. m. ET
`Firms that buy and enforce patents make life hard for technology companies. A new San
`Francisco startup hopes to turn the tables.
`Unified Patents Inc. plans to recruit companies for a collective effort to deter patent lawsuits or
`legal threats against its members.
`fatmtT^
`enforcement firms in U.S. courts
`3,500
`2012:2, 942'
`3W
`2/500
`2, ( 0
`1300
`MOO
`%0
`0
`The first to join Unified are
`Internet giant Google Inc. and
`NetAppInc., NTAP-o.36%v
`which makes data-storage
`hardware. But the venture plans
`to set itself apart by also
`recrmting smaU tech companies,
`which often have trouble
`defending themselves.
`"What we end up doing is
`making a group of small
`companies no longer look like an
`easy target, " said Kevin Jakel,
`Unified's chief executive.
`Unified's plan is one of many
`responses to the rise of
`companies that specialize in
`making money from patents,
`often while doing little in the
`way of invention or selling
`products. That distinction is
`important because such
`companies-often called NPEs,
`for "nonpracticing entities, " or,
`more derisively, "patent trolls"-
`don't operate businesses that
`can be countersued, a common
`patent defense.
`'10 '11^ 'Us
`.
`' Adjusted to exclude one-time mcrwse
`dye to change in U.S. pstwA law.
`Smrc&t Patenffreedom
`TbeWaUStreeUoymal
`PatentFreedom, an organization
`that tracks such firms, said the
`number of operating companies named in lawsuits involving NPEs more than tripled between
`2008 and 2012, even after adjusting to exclude a recent surge in suits caused by a change in U. S.
`patent laws.
`EXHIBIT,
`Of
`Planet Depos, LLC
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`Bradium Exhibit 2019
`Unified Patents Inc. v. Bradium Technologies LLC
`IPR2018-00952
`Page 2 of 2
`
`9/8/2018
`New Venture Enters Patent Fray - WSJ
`Firms such as RPX Corp. and Allied Security Trust, or AST, were formed in recent years to help
`patent defendants, largely by buying up patents to keep them out of the hands ofNPEs. But the
`amount of litigation keeps rising, Mr. Jakel said, with small companies increasingly bearing the
`brunt of the lawsuits.
`Colleen Chien, an assistant professor at Santa Clara University Law School, estimates that
`companies with $10 million or less in revenue account for 55% of the defendants targeted by
`entities that specialize in asserting patents.
`Such plaintiffs use a variety of techniques to make it more economical to assert patents, she
`said. In some cases, firms send letters threatening patent suits to many small companies at
`once in the hopes that a sizable number will pay for licenses rather than taking the risks of
`fighting patent cases in court. Money earned from that practice can help fund further attacks
`on small or large companies.
`Unified plans to use a variety of techniques to make such tactics more expensive and more risky.
`The firm was founded by Mr. Jakel, who previously served as head of intellectual property
`litigation
`at Intuit Inc., and Brian Hinman, a former chief executive of AST who most recently
`served as a vice president at InterDigital Communications Inc.
`One key strategy is defining specific technology fields to defend, making it easier to identify and
`track a limited number of relevant patents. Unified intends to start with two such "micro-
`pools. " One focuses on technologies for managing payments on mobile devices, and the other
`focuses on Web-powered services known as "cloud storage."
`In another approach. Unified plans to use small-company members as a kind of early warning
`system-both when NPEs approach them about potentially purchasing their patents and when
`they are threatened with litigation by the NPEs.
`Once alerted. Unified will be able to spread the word to other members and pursue
`countermoves, such as oflfering to buy the small-company patents itself, Messrs. Jakel and
`Hinman said. They also expect to ask the U. S. Patent and Trademark Office to re-examine the
`patents wielded by the NPEs, increasing the risk that they will be declared invalid.
`While defendants frequently use the latter tactic after they are sued, starting the process
`earlier can raise the costs for NPEs and make enforcing particular patents less attractive, Mr.
`Jakel said.
`But Paul Ryan, CEO of Acacia Research Corp., one of the best-known firms that buys and
`licenses patents, said re-examinations aren't a decisive defense if the patents involved are
`valid. "We are very selective, " Mr. Ryan said of the patents Acacia buys. "We reject a lot of
`patents for various reasons."
`Unified isn't disclosing how much it will charge members, but it plans to bill large companies
`higher fees than smaller ones. Douglas Luftman, NetApp's chief intellectual property counsel,
`said in a statement that Unified's business model represents a "cost-effective" way to challenge
`"dubious" patents.
`The venture also is likely to face competition from RPX, AST and others. But Daniel McCurdy,
`AST'S chief executive, thinks the efforts to help defendants maybe complementary. "The more
`the merrier, " he said.
`Corrections & Amplifications
`Unified Patents Inc. was incorrectly referred to as United in second references in some editions
`of this article.
`Write to Don dark at don. clark@wsj.com
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