A patent holding company (PHC) exists to hold patents on behalf of one or more other companies but does not necessarily manufacture products or supply services based upon the patents held.
Patent holding companies may exist for tax reasons.[1] Patent holding companies may also operate patent pools in order to provide a single source for licensing a patented technology.[2] However, patent holding companies that aggressively seek to enforce patent rights through litigation or threats of litigation are referred to as patent assertion entities (PAEs) or, more pejoratively, patent trolls.[3][4]
- ^ "Patent transfer".
- ^ "Response To Trustees Of Columbia University, Fujitsu Limited, General Instrument Corp., Lucent Technologies Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Philips Electronics N.V., Scientific-Atlanta, Inc., And Sony Corp., | ATR | Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. 25 June 2015. Retrieved 2017-01-04.
- ^ Obama Plans to Take Action Against Patent-Holding Firms, By JARED A. FAVOLE And BRENT KENDALL, June 4 2013, The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ AICPA Updates the Profession on Patent Holding Companies (PHCs) Archived 2014-10-26 at the Wayback Machine, July 2, 2013, New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants