[News] Patent-holding company uses ex-Nokia patents to sue Apple, phone carriers

[StyM]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...hone-carriers/

The largest publicly traded patent-assertion company, Acacia Research, has launched a new lawsuit (PDF) against Apple and all the major cell phone carriers.

Cellular Communications Equipment, LLC, a unit of Acacia, has sued Apple, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile. The company says that the five industry giants infringe four patents related to basic cell phone technologies. All four patents originated at Nokia, which has been sharing its patents in so-called "patent privateering" arrangements for some years now.

Like so many lawsuits, the CCE v. Apple et al. case is based in the patent hotspot of East Texas, which is still considered favorable ground for patent plaintiffs. Acacia is based in Southern California, but the complaint says CCE's principal place of business is an office in Plano, which is within the Eastern District of Texas.
Patent privateering takes place when an operating company shares its patents with a patent-assertion entity for a cut of the profits. It allows operating companies to make money off the business of pure patent litigation, sometimes derided as "patent trolling."

Apple is clearly sick of Nokia's privateering. In December, Apple filed an antitrust lawsuit against Nokia, saying the company hatched a plan to work with "its PAE [patent assertion entity] co-conspirators" to enforce a diffused patent portfolio, "to maximize the aggregate royalties that can be extracted from product companies." Nokia responded by filing a huge patent infringement lawsuit against Apple the following day.

[alpha0ne]

Apple is clearly sick of Nokia's privateering. In December, Apple filed an antitrust lawsuit against Nokia, saying the company hatched a plan to work with "its PAE [patent assertion entity] co-conspirators" to enforce a diffused patent portfolio, "to maximize the aggregate royalties that can be extracted from product companies." Nokia responded by filing a huge patent infringement lawsuit against Apple the following day.

Pot.................Black !!

Nothing wrong with a valid patent being monetized but the whole system of patent ownership and what can be clearly defined as what constitutes a valid patent needs to be addressed ..................................but that will never happen because it would mean less $$$$ for the vampires errr I mean lawyers