RPX has begun a new, free program – OPEN – that seeks to increase transperency in the patent marketplace, while also reducing transaction costs and shrinking the troll marketplace.  Members of OPEN agree to provide RPX and OPEN members 45 day notice before selling any patent to a troll.  That gives OPEN members and/or RPX an opportunity to seek to purchase the patent or take a license, thereby reducing the threat of credible patents and reducing the legal spend by removing the likely litigation that would flow from a sale to a troll.  RPX claims to have more than fifteen members representing more than 148,000 patents.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a lead trial counsel on RPX Insurance Service’s defensive patent troll insurance program.