Non-practicing entities (NPEs), otherwise known as “patent trolls,” are generally entities that own patents without entering commerce and that use those patents to threaten lawsuits against businesses and entrepreneurs, demanding licensing fees for their patents’ use. They’re a growing problem that Google says it will help stop by attempting to buy the patents directly from the trolls themselves.

Google Fights Patent Trolls with Patent Purchase Promotion

From May 8 to May 22, Google will hold “Patent Purchase Promotion,” through which patent owners, presumably some patent trolls, can name their intellectual property’s price. By June 26, Google will let the patent holder know if they’re interested in making a deal.

Google representatives said the plan is designed primarily to combat what is a growing problem in the intellectual property (IP) community. According to a 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers, patent trolls are responsible for an estimated 67 percent of all patent lawsuits filed, compared to 28 percent just five years prior.

Critics Warn Program Requires Trust in Google

Many commentators said that this program could be beneficial but that it ultimately requires placing some degree of trust in Google—that the tech giant won’t go after potentially infringing innovators itself. For instance, one writer from the technology site Gizmodo suggested that the money Google is spending on this project might be better spent on a non-profit that could make these patents available to any entrepreneur who asks.

While Google may put a good deal of these patents into the public domain, it is also possible that the company could keep many of the best patents solely for its own use. But given that patent trolls have become such a stumbling block to innovation, Google’s ownership of their patents may be at least the lesser of two evils.

Sources: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/04/27/google-has-a-new-tactic-for-fighting-patent-trolls-buying-the-patents-first/ http://www.macnn.com/articles/15/04/28/patent.purchase.promotion.initiative.aims.to.reduce.patent.lawsuits?utm_content=buffer89b82&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer http://gizmodo.com/google-attempts-to-fight-patent-trolls-by-buying-pat-1700413270

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