New IP3 Patent Purchase Program Is Industry's Latest Attempt To Combat Trolls

In May 2016, the Allied Security Trust, a non-profit industry group, announced the launch of the Industry Patent Purchase Program, otherwise known as IP3. This new initiative brings together technology industry leaders including Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, and Adobe, to establish a patent marketplace in an effort to create an opportunity for patent owners to both protect their intellectual property, and acquire valuable patents.

The IP3 follows the footsteps of previous initiatives by tech industry leaders, including an initiative spearheaded by Google last year, the Patent Purchase Promotion Program, that invited companies and start-ups to sell their patents to Google.

These recent initiatives are a backdrop to an increasingly heated battle between innovators and patent trolls. The patent trolls' business model is based on the aggressive enforcement of their patents. Often, patent trolls do not practice their own inventions, and they rather acquire them, or sometimes