Stanford Law School Patent Assertion Entity Symposium Call for Proposals

The Stanford Law School is holding a Patent Assertion Entity (PAEs) symposium based on the empirical research of Mark Lemley and Shawn Miller on lawsuits involving PAEs.  Proposals to participate should be based on the research and directed to PAE reform efforts.  This is a timely symposium based on the release of the recent FTC Report on PAEs.  The details are pasted below.

Call for Proposals

PAE Reform Symposium at Stanford Law School

May 11, 2017

We hope that you will be able to join us at the Stanford Patent Litigation Policy Practicum’s Symposium on patent assertion entities (“PAEs”) on May 11, 2017 at Stanford Law School. The Stanford Program in Law, Science & Technology is cosponsoring this event. The Practicum is directed by Professors Mark Lemley and Shawn Miller. Since 2013, over twenty Stanford students have been working to create the Stanford NPE Litigation Dataset (the “dataset”), which when complete will categorize the patentees in all patent lawsuits filed between 2000 and the present as practicing or as one of eleven categories of non-practicing entities (“NPEs”). Several of our NPE categories are different species of PAEs.

 Within the month, we will finalize a 20-percent random sample of all lawsuits filled between 2000 and 2015. The main purpose of this symposium is to bring together scholars, policymakers and practitioners to listen to and discuss presentations by selected researchers who have used this data in empirical studies aimed at informing the debate on the need (or lack of need) for additional patent reform targeting PAEs. 

 We welcome your proposals for research using the dataset. Below are links to our taxonomy for categorizing patent owners and to our completed random sample of cases for the year 2000:

• Taxonomy and methodology (link)
• Sample of cases filed in 2000 (link)

Researchers who are selected to present at the Symposium will receive the entire random sample of over 10,000 lawsuits in early December. We will provide these researchers assistance in obtaining other data, including the patents asserted in each case, as needed. We do not expect completed papers by the date of the Symposium but rather presentations describing the participants’ hypotheses, methodology, empirical results and policy implications.

 Call for Proposals on the following subjects:

• The impact of PAEs on the courts, the patent system, innovation, producers and/or consumers (including in comparison with other types of patent owners).
• Whether patent reform to address PAEs is warranted given the evidence and if so what shape should it take?

 We welcome proposals for projects that would use the entire dataset as well as those focused on particular industries or technologies.

Deadline for submissions:

• December 2, 2016

 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION PROCEDURE: If you are interested in presenting empirical results at the Symposium please send a brief one to two page description of the study you would like to conduct using the Stanford NPE Litigation Dataset to the Practicum's research assistant Kevin Gibson at kpgibson@stanford.edu no later than December 2, 2016. Please include your name, current position and contact information in the e-mail accompanying the submission. 

 COST: There is no registration fee and meals will be provided during the conference. We will cover hotel accommodations and limited travel expenses for researchers whose proposals are selected for presentations.

 Please email Shawn Miller with any questions concerning the symposium, the dataset or the call for proposals: smiller@law.stanford.edu