Article One Partners

Article One Partners, L.L.C.
Type Private
Industry Prior art search
Crowdsourcing
Founded November, 2008
Headquarters New York City, New York
Key people Cheryl Milone, Founder and CEO
Paul DiGiammarino, President
Rick Schwartz, COO
Ray Felts, President, North America
Frances Weber, Executive VP
Eric Baer, VP of Product and Technology[1]
Products Patent research services
Employees 10-20
Website Articleonepartners.com

Article One Partners, L.L.C. is a venture-funded online prior art search community based in New York City, New York.[2][3]

Contents

History

The company was incorporated in November 2008 by founder Cheryl Milone.[4] It was backed by venture capital firms Alleghany Capital Corporation and General Catalyst Partners, with initial investments totalling $8 million.[3]

Products and services

Article One Partners provides crowdsourced prior art search services by utilizing an online research community. Patents are posted online as a request for relevant research submissions. The patents are mainly based around ongoing patent infringement cases, and the requests call for information that can invalidate the patents. Rewards of up to $50,000 are posted for each patent, and are paid to the researchers based on the quality of the submissions. The company also runs a modified profit sharing program where the researchers can earn a portion of the company profits.[5][6]

Litigation avoidance

Litigation Avoidance targets the patents held by non-practicing entities and is designed specifically for frequent targets of patent lawsuits.[7] The service uses the company’s research community to unearth prior art in an attempt to reduce the number of low-quality patents being asserted. In June 2011, Microsoft became the first official member of the program, with Chief Patent Counsel Bart Eppenauer citing the need to reduce risks and costs associated with patent litigation as the main reasons for joining the program.[8]

Patent litigation

NTP, Inc.

In December 2010, Article One Partners launched community examination of 3 patents owned by Non-practicing entity, NTP Inc..[9] The patents in question were central to the ongoing patent infringement suits filed by NTP against Apple, Google, Microsoft, HTC, LG, and Motorola.[10][11] The patent review studies were launched with rewards of $10,000 going to researchers who present the most relevant evidence around mobile email technologies.[9]

Interval licensing

In March 2011, Article One Partners launched community examination of patents owned by Interval Research Corporation, a non-practicing entity co-founded by Paul Allen and David Liddle. The patents were the subject of a lawsuit filed by Interval Research Corp. against defendants Apple, Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, AOL, eBay, Netflix, OfficeMax, and Staples.[12] In the lawsuit, Interval Research Corp. asserted that the defendants used technology on their websites that was originally created by a company owned by Allen.[13]

Mobile Application Developers

In June 2011, Article One Partners launched community examination of a patent owned by Macrosolve. The patent is central to Macrosolve's patent infringement claims against 30 Mobile application development companies. [14] This examination was followed by another announcement that 3 studies were launched focusing on patents held by patent licensing company, Lodsys. These patents were involved in patent infringement claims against several application development companies, as well as larger companies including Sam's Club, Best Western, Adidas, Best Buy, and others. [15]

Other litigation

Although the company stresses the importance of client confidentiality,[12] the company launch in 2008 included the announcement of multiple high-profile cases. These cases included:

Partner organizations

Peer To Patent

Although originally considered a key competitor,[6] the USPTO's Peer-to-Patent project joined Article One Partners in a strategic partnership.[17] With paralleled goals around public participation in patent examination, the partnership mixes both community collaboration through the profit sharing system[18] and corporate sponsorship. Official corporate sponsorship in October 2010 was focused on the launch of the second Peer To Patent pilot program.[19]

Other international organizations

See also

References

  1. ^ "Article One Team". Article One Partners, L.L.C.. http://articleonepartners.com/company/team.php. Retrieved 2011-03-14. 
  2. ^ Galen Moore (2010-04-19). "VCs Bet on the Spread of Business Crowdsourcing". American City Business Journals, Inc.. http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2010/04/19/story3.html?ana=e_ph. Retrieved 2011-02-16. 
  3. ^ a b Nick Saint (2010-07-27). "Startup 2009 Winner Article One Partners Raises $5 Million". Business Insider, Inc.. http://www.businessinsider.com/patent-research-startup-article-one-partners-raises-5-million-2010-7. Retrieved 2011-03-16. 
  4. ^ "Internet Firm to Reward Researchers for Patent Evidence". The Washington Times. 2008-11-24. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/nov/24/internet-firm-reward-researchers-patents-evidence/. Retrieved 2011-03-16. 
  5. ^ a b Joelle Tessler (2008-11-18). "Online startup aims to improve patent quality". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-11-17-156546911_x.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
  6. ^ a b Asher Hawkins (2008-12-18). "Patent Vigilantes". Forbes.com, LLC.. http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0112/037a.html. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
  7. ^ Stuart Weinberg (2011-06-01). "Patent Researcher Turns Tables on Litigants". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303654804576349333297362932.html. Retrieved 2011-06-27. 
  8. ^ Alison Frankel (2011-06-01). "Microsoft Joins Article One’s New Troll-Fighting Service". Thomson Reuters. http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/New_York/News/2011/06_-_June/Microsoft_joins_Article_One_s_new_troll-fighting_service/. Retrieved 2011-06-27. 
  9. ^ a b Grant Gross (2010-12-09). "Crowdsourcing Group Targets NTP Mobile E-mail Patents". PC World. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/213123/crowdsourcing_group_targets_ntp_mobile_email_patents.html. Retrieved 2011-03-30. 
  10. ^ Rob Pegoraro (2010-07-09). "NTP sues everybody over alleged wireless e-mail patents". The Washington Post. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2010/07/ntp_sues_world_over_wireless_e.html. Retrieved 2011-03-30. 
  11. ^ Micheline Tang (2010-07-09). "NTP Sues Apple, Google, HTC, LG, Microsoft, and Motorola for Infringement of Wireless Email Patents". PR Newswire. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ntp-sues-apple-google-htc-lg-microsoft-and-motorola-for-infringement-of-wireless-email-patents-98101629.html. Retrieved 2011-03-30. 
  12. ^ a b Michael Hickins (2011-03-02). "Paul Allen's Foes Hope for Help From the 'Crowd'". The Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/03/02/paul-allens-foes-hope-for-help-from-the-crowd/. Retrieved 2011-03-17. 
  13. ^ Dionne Searcey (2010-08-28). "Microsoft Co-Founder Launches Patent War". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703294904575385241453119382.html. Retrieved 2011-03-17. 
  14. ^ Alison Frankel (2011-06-07). "No App for That: Trolls Launch Suits against 47 App Developers". Thomson Reuters. http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/ViewNews.aspx?id=18423. Retrieved 2011-06-27. 
  15. ^ Josh Lowensohn (2011-06-15). "Scoop: Bounty set for Invalidating Lodsys Patents". CNET. http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20071343-248/scoop-bounty-set-for-invalidating-lodsys-patents/. Retrieved 2011-06-27. 
  16. ^ "Article One Partners Strengthens Global Automaker Patent Claims". RedOrbit. 2010-04-12. http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/1848084/article_one_partners_strengthens_global_automaker_patent_claims/. Retrieved 2011-03-12. 
  17. ^ "Article One Partners Form Strategic Partnership to Support Peer To Patent Re-launch". PR Newswire. 2010-10-19. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/article-one-partners-forms-strategic-partnership-to-support-peer-to-patent-re-launch-105250693.html. Retrieved 2011-03-10. 
  18. ^ "Article One Partners Recognized as Startup of the Year". Peer To Patent. 2009-06-11. http://cairns.typepad.com/peertopatent/2009/06/article-one-partners-recognized-as-startup-of-the-year.html. Retrieved 2011-03-10. 
  19. ^ "USPTO Launches Second Peer To Patent Pilot in Collaboration with New York Law School". U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. 2010-10-19. http://www.uspto.gov/news/pr/2010/10_50.jsp. Retrieved 2011-03-10. 
  20. ^ "News". Japan Technology Group. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ja&u=http://www.japantechnologygroup.com/newsrelease_08062009.htm&ei=0r2ITbo5lK2BB9aGhMgN&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CC4Q7gEwAg&prev=/search%3Fq%3DJapan%2BTechnology%2BGroup%2B%2522article%2Bone%2522%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26prmd%3Divns. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 
  21. ^ "Indian Innovators Association signs Partnering Agreement with Article One Partners, LLC.". Indian Innovators Association. http://www.indianinnovatorsforum.org/discussion_forum.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-02. 

External links