Giant tech companies have come under a great deal of well-deserved criticism from across the political spectrum on a variety of concerns over their actions. On market power, privacy, political bias and disinformation, they are under a microscope. One area where their actions deserve even more scrutiny — and opposition — is their war on the patent rights of inventors and startups.
These powerful tech companies have long relied on a strategy of deliberate infringement because enforcement litigation is too expensive for younger smaller competitors. Last month, a Federal judge in Norfolk found San Jose-based Cisco Systems, a Goliath, had willfully infringed patents of cyber security startup Centripetal Networks Inc., a David. The judge found Cisco's conduct "egregious" and without "any objectively reasonable defenses” and ordered them to pay $1.9 billion in damages. This is typical of what is called "efficient infringement," essentially meaning “violating another's rights is profitable.”
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