Overview
Steptoe partner John Abramic was quoted in an IPPro Life Sciences article titled “A Dog-Eat-Dog World.” The article, published September 23, discusses how hedge funds are getting into the patent dispute fray by using a new procedure for challenging patents introduced in the America Invents Act. Specifically, the act created the inter partes review (IPR), which is an administrative procedure for challenging patents through the US Patent and Trademark Office. Hedge funds are using the IPR procedure to manipulate stock prices to turn a profit.
Mr. Abramic says this procedure allows “any third party to request IPR re-examination of a patent. In allowing any person to file an IPR, it seems clear Congress did not intend to restrict the classes of people who could file IPRs.” With respect to the hedge fund strategy, Mr. Abramic explains, “Individuals involved in stock shorting schemes, while claiming that their efforts to attack patents will have the effect of potentially eliminating bad patents, are motivated to attack patents that play an important role in the stock price of a company, regardless of the quality of the patent.”
The full article can be read at IPPro Life Sciences (p.6, 8).
