Google, Dropbox, Other Tech Firms Pool Resources To Thwart Trolls

A group of technology companies led by Google, who together hold tens of thousands of patents, have signed an agreement promising to grant licenses to one another whenever one of the patents is sold, “to defang patents before they get into the hands of patent trolls,” Re/Code reports. The coalition, called the License of Transfer network, was formed in response to Google’s call to action last year, urging technology companies to band together in fighting firms whose business plan is aggressively litigating patents rather than creating new products. More than 60 percent of patent litigation in 2012 was initiated by patent assertion firms, up from 20 percent in 2006.