July 12, 2022

Patent-assertion entities, also known as patent trolls, are abusing the International Trade Commission (ITC) process to extort huge financial payouts. A patent troll’s business model does not rely on the production of goods or the offering of services. Instead, they exist solely to acquire patents and then weaponize those patents by filing frivolous infringement litigation against U.S. companies in the pursuit of massive financial windfalls. Trolls flock to abuse the ITC process,  because the ITC’s only enforcement tool is the ability to issue exclusion orders – product bans that can remove entire categories of goods from the market. Trolls can set up a huge threat to companies, including American companies that rely on multiple suppliers, vendors, and global supply chains.

A leading troll is Atlantic IP Services, a self-described “expert in the field of patent monetization,” that repeatedly uses the threat of ITC exclusion orders to extort some of the most innovative and dynamic U.S. manufacturers. Atlantic IP’s web of over ten subsidiary companiesregularly files cases at the ITC that target companies like Apple, Microsoft, Lenovo, Dell, and other major innovators in the US market.

The products that these companies provide are connecting rural Americans, powering precision agriculture and better healthcare, and strengthening America’s global competitive edge. But, the ITC is being wielded by patent trolls as a “Sword of Damocles” to threaten, extort, and squeeze U.S. companies – with productive innovators and American consumers paying the price.

Click here to learn more about the ITC and why we need to reform the commission.