Patent Assertion Entities—firms that specialize in enforcing patent rights, by negotiating licenses or, if necessary, suing alleged infringed—have been central to recent debates about patent reform, with differing views about whether these firms perform a valuable economic function or impose excessive litigation costs. In an effort to help answer these questions, the Federal Trade Commission in 2014 initiated a Section 6(b) study of PAEs and their impact on innovation and competition. A principal purpose of this study is to go beyond the currently available public record of PAE litigation activity and attempt to gather non-public data related to acquisition and licensing practices, and structural issues related to organization and economic relationships.

Please join TPI for a discussion of the report with academic experts on patent issues. Opening remarks will be given by Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen of the Federal Trade Commission.

Panelists confirmed for the event are:

Suzanne Munck, Deputy Director and Chief Counsel for Intellectual Property, Federal Trade Commission
Fritz Scheuren, Senior Fellow and Vice President, Center for Excellence in Survey Research, NORC

Joshua Wright, Executive Director, Global Antitrust Institute, George Mason University School of Law and former Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission

Rosemarie Ziedonis, Associate Professor of Strategy and Innovation, and Academic Director for Entrepreneurship, Boston University Questrom School of Business

Thomas Lenard (moderator), Senior Fellow and President Emeritus, Technology Policy Institute