Legal News

Google to Potential Patent Challengers: ?Bring It?

By Ashby Jones

In recent weeks, we’ve heard through the grapevine that many companies, looking to avoid costly and drawn-out litigation battles in this era of economic uncertainty, are looking to get rid of their litigation portfolios through any means possible. And that largely means settling.

But this doesn’t appear to be the case out at Google, where the number of patent challenges against Google rose to 14 last year, from 11 in 2007 and three in 2006. According to this Bloomberg story (HT: AmLaw Lit Daily), the company is going on the offensive to fight patent claims, a strategy it hopes will deter frivolous lawsuits.

Is the strategy smart? Maybe. Alan Fisch, a patent lawyer at Kaye Scholer in Washington, calls it risky. Settling patent fights is often a smarter solution, avoiding drawn-out cases and legal fees. “If you’re going to take a hard-line approach, you’d better back it up with victories,” said Fisch.

But Raymond Niro, a lawyer for HyperPhrase Technologies LLC, thinks the strategy could backfire. The company said in 2006 that Google infringed a patent owned by HyperPhrase. After defeating the challenge, Google is now asking for $500,000 as compensation for legal costs. “The typical reaction of litigation-oriented attorneys is there’s no sense talking to Google, you might as well just sue them,” Niro said. “They want to project a very aggressive approach to litigation.”

Others view the strategy more favorably. James Wallace, a lawyer at Wiley Rein in Washington, says it’s smart to fight lots of patent challenges, given that so many are of shaky merit. Still, a blanket policy of not settling could be dangerous, he said.

Still, Hilary Ware, Google’s managing litigation counsel, says the company is winning. She says it has fought and won five patent suits filed against it since starting the more aggressive policy two years ago.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on February 19, 2009 (boomark / email).