PTAB demolishes patent trolls---the aff would allow them to proliferate---Aff authors are just angry inventors who haven't invented anything at all

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board, or PTAB, is one of the only places in the nation where patent trolls can be held to account for the outrageous and harmful claims they make in their patents. Congress created the “inter partes review” (IPR) process, which is overseen by specialized PTAB judges, more than a decade ago. “Inter partes” simply means “between the parties,” and the IPR process allows members of the public to challenge patents that never should have been granted in the first place.

The IPR process is one of two main ways to challenge patents, along with challenging them in district court. The big difference is that the IPR process, while not simple or cheap, is much faster and cheaper than going to trial in federal court. Invalidating a patent in court can cost millions of dollars, while even a complicated IPR process costs a fraction of that.

Through IPR, thousands of patents have been thrown out. The patent challengers who have kicked out some of these wrongly-granted monopolies have protected not just themselves, but countless other hobbyists, software developers, small businesses, and nonprofits, who could no longer be threatened with some of the worst patents to slip through the cracks.

A patent troll called WordLogic tried to shake down Wikipedia for $30,000. Once PTAB gave its initial ruling—that WordLogic’s patent was likely invalid—WordLogic got smart and settled the case. The lawsuits WordLogic was pushing against Wikipedia, and many other organizations, were dropped.

A patent troll called SportBrain Holdings sued more than 80 companies on a patent they said covered getting user data, then sharing it over a network and providing feedback. The patent did not hold up to serious analysis. When a panel of PTAB judges looked at it, they canceled all claims. SportBrain was challenged by Unified Patents, a membership-based for-profit company that will be explicitly banned if the USPTO enacts these troll-friendly rules.

Shipping and Transit LLC (formerly Arrivalstar) filed for bankruptcy in 2018 after more than a decade of litigation and 500 patent lawsuits. Shipping and Transit sued a vast array of retailers and shippers, claiming its patents covered almost any type of delivery notification. In its court filings, it valued its own portfolio of 34 U.S. patents at $1. IPR filings against Shipping and Transit, together with court fee orders, were a critical part of ending this onslaught against small business.

The IPR process hasn’t eliminated patent trolling. But it’s been so effective that patent trolls and their pro-patent protectors absolutely hate the process. That’s why they are pushed so hard for these proposed rules, and are celebrating their arrival.

The Proposed Rules Deliberately Sabotage The IPR System

USPTO Director Kathi Vidal has already tried to walk back responsibility for these rules. She said in Congress last month that the rules “giving stakeholders a chance to shape the rules.” But the only “stakeholders” who seem to have had a hand here are patent trolls and large patent-holders.

Many patent trolls would be exempt from IPRs altogether. The USPTO would prohibit anyone from challenging the patents of “small entities” and “under-resourced inventors.” But it’s trivially easy for even the most litigious patent trolls to portray themselves as “small inventors.” It happens all the time, and the USPTO rules buy into this sham. Many “inventors” are patent attorneys who have learned to game the system; they haven’t invented anything other than patents. Patent trolls that have sued hundreds of small businesses, and even public transportation systems, including Shipping and Transit LLC and various Leigh Rothschild entities, have claimed to be “inventor owned” businesses.

If these rules were in force, it’s not clear that EFF would have been able to protect the podcasting community by fighting, and ultimately winning, a patent challenge against Personal Audio LLC. Personal Audio claimed to be an inventor-owned company that was ready to charge patent royalties against podcasters large and small. EFF crowd-funded a patent challenge and took out the Personal Audio patent after a 5-year legal battle (that included a full IPR process and multiple appeals).