Patent disputes between smart car manufacturers and non-practicing entities (NPES)

Abstract

Smart cars in the vehicle market continue to show substantial growth, which has been driving the automotive industry to focus on advancing related technologies by integrating technologies from various areas. As information and communications technology (ICT) melds with automotive technologies, the rapidly increasing activities of non-practicing entities (NPEs) have caused concern. An NPE is any entity that earns or plans to earn the majority of its revenue from licensing or enforcing its patents. In this study, we analyzed US litigation data on smart car patents to suggest preventive measures that can facilitate strategic decision-making for efficiently confronting NPEs. We performed correlation analysis to identify the factors that relate to disputes against NPEs in the automotive sector. Next, we analyzed the patent acquisitions of NPEs to interpret the characteristic patterns of lawsuits. Finally, we showed that our network analysis of patent litigation provides insights for establishing successful strategies against unanticipated patent disputes.