Alexander Poltorak, GPC's Chairman and CEO, attended a forum on nonpracticing entity litigation organized by the New York Intellectual Property Law Association and was one of the few attendees to question whether patent trolls are the villains they are made out to be. ("Lawyers' Voices Needed In Anti-Troll Debate, Judge Says" Law360.com - October 10, 2013)
Article excerpt: The task of defending nonpracticing entities at the event fell to Alexander Poltorak, CEO of the patent licensing and enforcement firm General Patent Corp.
He said, "I don't see the big deal with patent trolls," since a patent is nothing but a license to sue and nothing in patent law requires that a patentee make products that practice the patent. Much of the agitation for action to curb nonpracticing entities comes from large tech companies that just want to cut their litigation costs, he said.
"Let's have an honest discussion about the real issues and how to improve the patent system, not how to save Cisco and Microsoft from NPEs," Poltorak said.