Google is widely known to be incredibly in favor of a complete reform to the currently existing patent laws to protect people from the “Patent Trolls” that have been making it extremely hard for companies to continue innovating in their respective areas. This is the main reasoning behind Google backing up the patent reform that was killed off by the Senate Judiciary Committee last year. Fortunately, Google didn’t just stand with its arms crossed as patent abuse continued, as the internet giant has already published a new “experiment” with the main goal of stopping these kind of patent exploits. With the Patent Purchase Promotion program, launched in April, Google negotiated with patent owners of inventions that might be “relevant” to the company to purchase them. But this recently opened program holds a lot of extra potential that you might not be aware of. The Patent Purchase Promotion could be of great help to new startup companies that feel pressured to sit on patents in order to elevate their valuation.
Google believes that by acquiring the patents, it would essentially protect them from falling into the hands of a possible “Patent Troll”, which would at the end limit what might be achieved with the patented invention. Google is always fighting to ensure innovation in the world, which is why the company is literally taking strong actions to allow startup companies to innovate without any concerns about patents. By buying out a great amount of patents, Google is making a major statement to why the current patent laws should be reformed.
Julie Samuels, Executive Director of Engine, is one of the first people in leading roles of major companies to take notice of Google’s actions, stating how it is a good thing that Google is fighting “Patent Trolls” as the internet giant “has made many public commitments to reforming the patent system. But to be fair we always feel uncomfortable when any one entity owns so many patents. That’s just not good for the world”. Google will undoubtedly continue to take major actions against patent abuse, and the recent Patent Purchase Promotion, is just the first part of the company’s plans.