Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
The Digital Signage Federation, the independent not-for-profit trade organization serving the digital signage industry, has joined United for Patent Reform as a founding member.
The US-based coalition, initially spearheaded by the National Retail Federation, is comprised of major trade associations and major U.S. corporations, who believe that American business, large and small, are being held hostage by patent trolls, and to address patent reform across industries.
Technology UFPR Coalition members already include: Amazon.com, Facebook, Vizio, Adobe, Dell, Google, Intuit, Cisco, Oracle, California Technology Council, Patent Fairness Coalition, Application Developers Alliance, Computer Communications Industry Association, Internet Association, Sabre, Consumer Electronics Association and others.
The full membership list and more information on the coalition is available to view here.
United for Patent Reform supports seven primary issues of patent reform, focused primarily on issues of misleading and predatory patent litigation by patent assertion entities, otherwise known as ‘patent trolls’:
- Reforming abusive demand letters;
- Making trolls explain their claims;
- Protecting innocent customers;
- Making patent litigation more efficient;
- Stopping discovery abuses;
- Making abusive trolls pay;
- Providing less expensive alternatives.
The coalition will provide member companies and organizations tools to help promote understanding and common sense changes in the area of patent litigation. These resources are to include sample letters, whitepapers, legislation tracking, and aggregated news gathering. The DSF will aggregate and disseminate applicable information to members through an opt-in process. The federation will also inform members on ways to volunteer with the DSF to support this effort.
Brian Gorg, DSF executive director, says, “Opening up a competitive marketplace that rewards innovation and entrepreneurship is important for both users and suppliers of digital signage services, which is why DSF leadership has authorized membership in this coalition in support of reform in regulation and legislation.”
Ken Goldberg, 2015 DSF chairman, says, “Patent reform continues to be a topic of immense interest for the members of the DSF. Abuse of the patent system by various patent assertion entities (sometimes called ‘trolls’) has led to disruptions in the normal course of activities in our marketplace, hampered innovation and caused a misdirection of capital. Our membership is made up of many small to medium sized businesses which are often the target of these non-practicing entities.”
See DailyDOOH’s interview with Goldberg on the industry stance on patent trolls and DSF’s own role in dealing with them.
No business – large or small – is immune from this problem. 66% of companies targeted by trolls have annual revenues of less than $100 million. 55% have annual revenues of $10 million or less. Almost any organization that employs technology is being affected.
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