RPX launches patent product; forms reinsurer
RPX Corporation, a provider of patent risk management solutions and a coverholder at Lloyd’s, has launched a new insurance product for businesses facing patent infringement litigation with non-practicing entities (NPEs).
RPX will provide marketing, underwriting, and claims management services on behalf of a syndicate at Lloyd’s. As part of its entry to this new service, RPX has formed a reinsurance company that will share a portion of the underwritten risk.
The company has deployed more than $100 million annually to acquire patents in each of the past six years. This acquisition activity has led to companies in the RPX network receiving more than 430 dismissals from over 60 litigations.
“Our approval as a coverholder at Lloyd’s further endorses our unique approach, and paves the way for RPX to offer a mainstream insurance product that could become as widely accepted as D&O or cyber liability coverage. We hope this RPX solution can enable patent risk to become a reasonable and predictable line item in companies’ budgets, as opposed to the highly unpredictable risk it is today,” said John Amster, chief executive and co-founder of RPX.
NPE patent litigation costs companies worldwide almost $13 billion in defence expenses and settlements last year, up from roughly $5 billion in 2008. RPX research shows the volume of NPE patent suits over the past five years increased nearly 600 percent, from approximately 600 in 2008 to more than 3,600 in 2013, impacting approximately 8,000 companies in the same period.
