Mr. Richard Hill, Chairman and interim CEO of Tessera Technologies, a designer of semiconductor technologies wrote an article in Forbes Don't Turn My Company Into A Patent Troll that does a nice job of explaining why non-practicing entities who seek to license US patents should not be lumped together with the bad actors, i.e., the so-called patent trolls.
It is not a matter of politeness to refer to a company like Tessera as a NPE rather than a patent troll. As Mr. Hill notes he is defending against a Board takeover with Starboard Value LP which seeks to defund company R&D and focus on seeking contingency fee patent litigation dollars. He calls this "cutting down the apple tree to harvest the apples."
I haven't met Mr. Hill nor do I have any involvement with Tessera, but he appears to be headed in the right direction and I wish Tessera well in its effort to continue to innovate and license its innovation in the semiconductor industry.
Updated May 28, 2013: Mercury News - San Jose's Tessera Technologies loses proxy showdown with hedge fund, agrees to sweeping management changes.
Copyright © 2013 Robert Moll. All rights reserved.
