In an upper hall at CES this afternoon, a Congressman and a panel of speakers gathered not to talk about a new gadget or a budding technology, but to focus on a nascent legal problem that's hindering technology. The topic of the hour was so-called "patent trolls," the shell companies that hope to get rich by suing the companies that make, or sometimes simply use, tech products.
This CES is the first to take up this issue, and it suggests how widespread the problem has become. Patent-holding companies are going after not just the usual targets—big tech companies—but digging down and going after small developers, as Lodsys has done recently. In some cases, they're even going after businesses way outside the tech sector that simply use everyday technology.
The panel was opened by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), who co-sponsored an anti-patent-troll bill last year called the SHIELD Act, and has plans to introduce a modified version of it in the new Congress.
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This CES is the first to take up this issue, and it suggests how widespread the problem has become. Patent-holding companies are going after not just the usual targets—big tech companies—but digging down and going after small developers, as Lodsys has done recently. In some cases, they're even going after businesses way outside the tech sector that simply use everyday technology.
The panel was opened by Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), who co-sponsored an anti-patent-troll bill last year called the SHIELD Act, and has plans to introduce a modified version of it in the new Congress.
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