The anti-joinder provision of the America Invents Act - about which we've written in a recent blog entry and a Patent Infringement News story - is expected to have a chilling effect on litigation brought by so-called "patent trolls." That's because instead of suing several defendants at once, patent owners must file a separate lawsuit for each individual infringer.

There was a time when the Eastern District of Texas was the preferred venue of plaintiffs in patent infringement cases. Well, as the song says, “the times they are a ‘changin” – at least with respect to so-called “patent trolls.”

From the "fact is stranger than fiction" department, we report on the bizarre case of a giant Japanese corporation suing a giant Taiwanese corporation in a court in Madison, Wisconsin. (Ricoh Company v. Quanta Computer Corp.)

Ricoh is an electronics manufacturer employing approximately 100,000 people, of whom over 40,000 are in the U.S. It produces, among other things, photocopiers, printers and digital cameras, with annual sales of about $20B.

We have previously commented upon the shabby treatment accorded small, non-practicing entities (NPEs) by the courts. Well, we are now able to report that, in at least one respect, large corporations are being treated in like manner to small ones. A large corporation, seeking to enforce a patent which it does not practice, i.e. a large NPE, gets the same short shrift as a small NPE. (Pitney Bowes Inc. et al. v. Zumbox, Inc.)

Some time ago, we wrote about developments in the International Trade Commission (I.T.C.) (see "New Opportunities Or How To Circumvent e-Bay"). Specifically, we commented on the newly relaxed requirements for standing to bring an action in the I.T.C. The Commission has determined that the “domestic industry requirement” can now be satisfied by “licensing” activities.

Much has been written, of late, about so-called “patent trolls,” i.e. small patent owners with the temerity to sue large corporations for patent infringement.¹ Patent trolls allegedly buy patents with the sole purpose of enforcing them – the scoundrels!

Well, now there is a new kind of troll, the “marking troll,” which doesn’t have to even buy a patent! The marking troll sues companies which “mismark” their products – mark them with the number of a patent which doesn’t actually cover the product or, more often, the number of an expired patent.

A previous blog post discussed the eBay decision, about which we will not comment further, except to note that it effectively removed one weapon from the arsenal of the NPE – the dreaded “non-practicing entity” (also, pejoratively known as a “troll”). No longer could the NPE threaten a patent infringer with the legal equivalent of a neutron bomb – a permanent injunction.