SUFFERN, NY, January 4, 2001 - Paul J. Lerner, Sr. Vice President and General Counsel of General Patent Corporation (GPC), was recently interviewed by Phillip Silverstein of the Wall Street Reporter Magazine, regarding an increase in the number of patent lawsuits currently being filed, and how it affects the business of an intellectual property management firm such as General Patent Corporation.
Mr. Lerner said in the interview that in 1996 there were a little over 1,800 patent infringement lawsuits filed, and that in 1999 there were over 2,300 patent lawsuits filed, which is an increase of about 34%.
Mr. Lerner went on to say: "In addition, we are now seeing an increasing number of business method patents issuing from the patent office, and these are going to be a very significant cause of litigation, simply because many of the business methods that are covered by these patents are probably being practiced by other businesses." He added: " I think that we're going to see an even greater increase in the amount of patent litigations when we receive statistics for the year 2000, especially in the field of business method patents."
Mr. Lerner went on to explain that GPC is a full service intellectual property (IP) management company: "General Patent does IP portfolio management, technology transfer, licensing of intellectual property and, most notably, patent enforcement on a contingency basis." He further stated: "Much of GPC's work involves patent infringement litigation, assisting both individual inventors and corporate clients. GPC is the leading contingency patent enforcement firm in the U.S."