That is something we have definitely thought about, but when making the numbers with the actual probability of being sued (more like 1% each year if you are a mid-sized VC funded startup) and the average lawsuit cost of going to court against the troll ($3M over 2 years, in case the case goes to the end), it is very dangerous to setup without a proper actuarial model, charging $500/month to some companies might be too risky.
What we are focused on right now is on diminishing patent portfolios so the lawsuit probability goes down. We have a lot of things in the pipeline that will make it easier for companies to be protected using Unpatent, that don't necessarily involve backing individual campaigns.
It would be great to have more/better tools to fight patent trolls, so that the cost of litigation goes down. Has their been any research to break down where all the costs of defending oneself against a patent trolls go?
Absolutely! I cannot speak for other companies/defendants, but in our case our aim is to make it very cost effective to invalidate patents that may later be used to sue your company.
Most fees in litigation and patent invalidation go to lawyers. We chose a kind of patent reexamination that can be automated, and we're working on the process. We have automated a great chunk of the process and paperwork already. That will bring costs down and democratize patent invalidation.
"Most fees in litigation and patent invalidation go to lawyers."
That is what I had figured... as an aside, I have been hearing complaints about young lawyers not being able to earn very much due to over saturation of the market- but it still sure costs a bunch to higher one of them! I would think if the market was so over-saturated, lawyers would lower their prices to better compete. (Of course, the various specialties may still have variances based on expertise). The over saturation thing must be a myth being spread by old lawyers trying to protect their earnings by discouraging new competition :)
Completely agree. I think lawyers are one of the biggest lobbies ever. They really care about their profession and making sure that they stay relevant.
Some lawyers try hard to make simple things look extremely hard just so you have to blindlessly trust them. And you obviously pay a premium for that. Anyway there are awesome lawyers out there that actually help businesses, but they are the less
What we are focused on right now is on diminishing patent portfolios so the lawsuit probability goes down. We have a lot of things in the pipeline that will make it easier for companies to be protected using Unpatent, that don't necessarily involve backing individual campaigns.