Article One Partners, a New York-based startup that crowdsources the search for prior art by rewarding researchers who find evidence that can be used to invalidate questionable patents, announced last week that Microsoft Corporation has signed on to its latest initiative to thwart patent suits by non-practicing entities (NPEs).
The new service, called Litigation Avoidance, is designed to help companies target poor quality patents before find themselves contending with them in court as a result of litigation launched by NPEs, which are often perjoratively as patent trolls. Previously, Article One and its global network of scientists and technologists focused on assisting companies once they’d already been sued.
