Verizon wants President Obama to step in on patent wars

Protecting intellectual property is important as it encourages innovation and entrepreneurship, but given the recent wave of patent wars in the tech world we have to wonder where the line is drawn between protecting your IP rights and abusing the system.

If you have been following the tech news, you’re probably aware that a lot of the big names in the industry have started a patent war and it appears that no one is safe. Most recently we have Microsoft who is suing Motorola for patent infringement, and let’s not forget Apple who is suing Samsung and HTC (who then turned around and sued Apple instead) over patent infringement as well.

Granted these companies have the right to protect their interests, but does anyone else think perhaps it’s going a bit too far? Apparently Verizon thinks so and their chief counsel, Randall Milch, thinks that perhaps it’s time for President Obama to step in and settle the current legal mess, perhaps by issuing licenses instead and having offending parties pay royalties as opposed to the outright ban of the sales of certain products (i.e. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy smartphones).

According to the WSJ, the President has the ability to waive whatever rulings the ITC has decided upon, but at the same time it does not seem likely that the President would actually step in, although that would make it a pretty interesting situation if he did. What do you guys think? Do you think the patent wars have gone a little bit too far and it’s time someone stepped in and settled all of this?

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones
Tags: lawsuit, patent infringement, Verizon