Press Release

Blockchain Zone launches with support from COPA to deter Patent Trolls

We are pleased to announce that the Cryptocurrency Open Patent Alliance (COPA), a non-profit community of 20+ companies formed to help adoption of cryptocurrency through cross-licensing and encouraging, is now a member of Unified’s Transactions and Blockchain Zones.

With COPA’s support, Unified is launching the Blockchain Zone to target NPE/patent troll activity in related technologies. Several Unified members are also expanding membership to support the Blockchain Zone. Unified now will deter invalid NPE assertions in the Blockchain space through challenges, crowdsourcing (PATROLL) and publishing prior art, and obtaining no-money settlements from NPEs.

Unified has successfully challenged over 100 NPE patents that threatened electronic transactions, online bill payments, authentication, and other technologies in the Transactions ZoneCOPA is joining 300+ other companies committed to deterring the assertion of bad patents by non-practicing entities (NPEs). 

The full announcement can be found here:

https://www.opencrypto.org/2024-10-01-copa-uniified-patents-partnership/

Open Source Zone continues to enjoy wide industry support after 5 years

A recent article discussed how Open Invention Network (OIN)The Linux FoundationMicrosoft and a growing list of companies have renewed their support of Unified’s Open Source Zone for the fifth consecutive year.

Created to protect open source from invalid assertions by NPEs and patent trolls, the Open Source Zone has successfully invalidated over 50 NPE-owned patents that threatened innovation in open source technologies. The continued goal is to deter further invalid assertions in the technology space. The full article can be found in the link below:

Open source rules engine for patent prosecution, PATCEPTA, kick off on Feb 9

Unified Patents and the Linux Foundation Announce Patcepta

Original article from THE LINUX FOUNDATION | 30 NOVEMBER 2022

Patcepta is a new open source rules engine for improving patent prosecution and management through automation.  Any interested party can join to help foster a new generation of IP management practices using open source software.

Unified Patents decided to work with The Linux Foundation in making the Patcepta project open source to remove critical barriers to entry that attorneys and entrepreneurs face in managing their patent portfolio. This project is the first of its kind in that it provides an open, understandable, and auditable ruleset and toolkit for enabling more efficient and innovative processes and tools for managing IP portfolios.

“We are excited to see this fundamental capability become an open source project for collaboration and shared dependency'' said Mike Dolan, Senior Vice President of Projects at the Linux Foundation. “Jurisdiction rules and a common rules engine are shared challenges faced by in-house and outside counsel trying to manage patent portfolios - a perfect opportunity to develop collaboratively and maintain in an open source community.”

“A key barrier to entry was made very clear in the beginning around docketing rules, which just in the US are over 500, while only about 80 represent almost 80% of the ones used,” said Shawn Ambwani, Co-Founder and COO of Unified Patents. “The number of rules is one of the reasons why the market is so fragmented and why the software is mainly provided as a loss leader to lock in services contracts for paying patent annuities. Another issue IP managers face is concerns associated with bad rules or missing a deadline – now the rules data and code will be transparent and open for any IP manager to see or update.  Finally, integrating such docketing software into larger processes and accounting systems makes switching costs high.  

Software providers, law firms, and even some corporations develop their code and maintain it as the rules change, which can be expensive and repetitive. 

After talking to The Linux Foundation (TLF) and a few members to gauge interest, we decided a potential course would be to help make the rules / code open source so anyone can build on top of it. In addition, having open source allows for collaboration and updates and, most importantly, allows everyone to see the code to get confidence that it is safe to rely upon.

Ultimately, the goal is to foster better and more innovative patent management processes by eliminating a major barrier.  

Patcepta is now an official project hosted by the Linux Foundation. You can view the project here or go to www.patcepta.org. It is the first legal industry codebase, open rules data, and project ever hosted by the foundation. We hope it will not only complete publishing all the United States rules and code, but there are opportunities for the open source community to add international jurisdictions and perhaps an interface down the road.”

We hope all parties interested in making patent and IP management easier evaluate and contribute to this project and help remove docketing rules as a barrier to managing their portfolio.

An initial kickoff meeting is scheduled for February 9th, 10a PT, so participants can join and help in moving this project forward or getting access to the repository. Please contact info@patcepta.org for any questions.

Unified Patents and the Linux Foundation Announce Patcepta, an Open Source Rules Engine for Patent Prosecution

Original article from THE LINUX FOUNDATION | 30 NOVEMBER 2022

Patcepta is a new open source rules engine for improving patent prosecution and management through automation.  Any interested party can join to help foster a new generation of IP management practices using open source software.

Unified Patents decided to work with The Linux Foundation in making the Patcepta project open source to remove critical barriers to entry that attorneys and entrepreneurs face in managing their patent portfolio. This project is the first of its kind in that it provides an open, understandable, and auditable ruleset and toolkit for enabling more efficient and innovative processes and tools for managing IP portfolios.

“We are excited to see this fundamental capability become an open source project for collaboration and shared dependency'' said Mike Dolan, Senior Vice President of Projects at the Linux Foundation. “Jurisdiction rules and a common rules engine are shared challenges faced by in-house and outside counsel trying to manage patent portfolios - a perfect opportunity to develop collaboratively and maintain in an open source community.”

“A key barrier to entry was made very clear in the beginning around docketing rules, which just in the US are over 500, while only about 80 represent almost 80% of the ones used,” said Shawn Ambwani, Co-Founder and COO of Unified Patents. “The number of rules is one of the reasons why the market is so fragmented and why the software is mainly provided as a loss leader to lock in services contracts for paying patent annuities. Another issue IP managers face is concerns associated with bad rules or missing a deadline – now the rules data and code will be transparent and open for any IP manager to see or update.  Finally, integrating such docketing software into larger processes and accounting systems makes switching costs high.  

Software providers, law firms, and even some corporations develop their code and maintain it as the rules change, which can be expensive and repetitive. 

After talking to The Linux Foundation (TLF) and a few members to gauge interest, we decided a potential course would be to help make the rules / code open source so anyone can build on top of it.  In addition, having open source allows for collaboration and updates and, most importantly, allows everyone to see the code to get confidence that it is safe to rely upon.

Ultimately, the goal is to foster better and more innovative patent management processes by eliminating a major barrier.  

Patcepta is now an official project hosted by the Linux Foundation. You can view the project here or go to www.patcepta.org. It is the first legal industry codebase, open rules data, and project ever hosted by the foundation. We hope it will not only complete publishing all the United States rules and code, but there are opportunities for the open source community to add international jurisdictions and perhaps an interface down the road.”

We hope all parties interested in making patent and IP management easier evaluate and contribute to this project and help remove docketing rules as a barrier to managing their portfolio.

An initial kickoff meeting is scheduled for early January so participants can join and help in moving this project forward or getting access to the repository.  Please contact info@patcepta.org for any questions.

Unified Launches Analog Semiconductor Zone with Industry-Leading Members

Unified Patents Launches Analog Semiconductor Protection Zone, Attracts Numerous Industry Leaders and Innovators.

This new zone brings together a fast-growing network of members to proactively reduce NPE activity in the Analog Semiconductor Sector in response to the increased NPE assertions focused on analog chips.

San Jose, Calif. – June 10, 2022Unified Patents LLC, the world’s only membership organization dedicated to deterring Non-Practicing Entity (NPE) activity, today announced the launch of its Analog Semiconductor Zone, which seeks to deter unsubstantiated or invalid patent assertions on technologies related to the ever-growing industry.

Semiconductor companies of all sizes are encouraged to apply for membership in the zone, with complimentary membership for small-sized businesses and scaled pricing based on revenue for larger organizations. Membership already includes numerous industry leaders. 

The Analog Semiconductor Zone comprises members that innovate in, among other things, microcontrollers, oscillators, diodes, communications-related chips, power ICs,  regulators, USB power, audio-related chips, and sensor-related chips.  Unified Patents’ latest zone accompanies its others, including cloud, content, IoT, mobile, retail, transactions, transport, cybersecurity, and networking. 

Over the last year, semiconductor and supply chain shortages have made headlines. Both have led to inflation and raised concerns about economic corrections. Chip shortages have been blamed for many of the supply chain issues, as they are necessary for so many different products now, from lightbulbs to automobiles. Though most would assume complex chips drive the shortages, in truth many of the supply chain issues are the result of analog chips. That, coupled with the relative ease of proving infringement and the ready availability of patents to license, has led NPEs to focus more resources on asserting against the analog industry. Click on the image below to review the data.

To put this issue in perspective, the top-20 plaintiffs—the frequent filers and notorious aggregators—account for nearly 60% of all analog semiconductor cases.

"As an independent third party, we continue to see great success in deterring patent trolls and killing bad patents” said Kevin Jakel, CEO at Unified Patents. “We are pleased that some of the largest companies in the industry are members of Unified Patents’ new Analog Semiconductor Zone, as this aids both large and small organizations in coming together to fight the sustained IP risk in the industry.  The rise and availability of litigation finance has only made that risk more pronounced. General counsel repeatedly praise Unified Patents’ work, which provides lasting value through powerful, ongoing NPE deterrence activities lauded by C-Level management and board members.”

The Analog Semiconductor Zone offers all semiconductor-related companies an opportunity to invest in an impactful and results-oriented organization. Unified Patents never pays any money to NPEs, whether to purchase licenses or otherwise. This ensures that Unified never incentivizes further NPE activity. By focusing on independent deterrence, Unified is never in the conflicted position of negotiating a licensing deal between NPEs and defendants in litigation. 



About Unified Patents

Founded in 2012, Unified Patents is an international membership organization that seeks to improve patent quality and deter unsubstantiated or invalid patent assertions in defined technology sectors (Zones) through its activities. As a deterrence entity, its actions focus on substantial assertions by Standards Essential Patents (SEP) holders and/or Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs). These actions may include analytics, prior art, invalidity contests, patentability analysis, administrative patent review (PTAB), amicus briefs, economic surveys, and essentiality studies. Unified works independently of its members to achieve its deterrence goals. Small members join for free, while larger organizations pay modest annual fees. Visit www.unifiedpatents.com.



Company Contact:

Unified Patents, LLC

Sasha Sokhis

VP, Head of Client Relations and Business Development 

sasha@unifiedpatents.com