Patent Lawsuits Are a National-Security Threat

"Third parties are increasingly funding patent litigation in the U.S. in exchange for some of the proceeds. 

This practice was nearly nonexistent as recently as 2010 but now appears to account for about 30% of the country's patent infringement lawsuits. The government doesn't know who pays for or controls these suits. That could allow foreign adversaries to profit from our legal system and threaten U.S. national security.

In 2019 VLSI Technology alleged that some of the tech in Intel's microprocessors infringed on its patents. In at least two lawsuits VLSI has been awarded some $3 billion in damages, some since reversed and remanded. Thanks to what's known as the NHK-Fintiv rule -- under which the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office refuses petitions for review if the relevant patents and parties are already involved in litigation -- the agency hasn't taken up Intel's challenges.

When OpenSky, another party, challenged the same patents in 2021, the office's review confirmed what Intel alleged: VLSI's patents were invalid because they claimed features of semiconductor design that were obvious.

The VLSI litigation has done serious harm to Intel and to the U.S. The proceedings have distracted the company and its engineers, and the company could still pay billions for some highly questionable patents -- money that Intel could invest in building chip fabs and designing the next generation of microprocessors.

It's difficult to overstate how important computer chips are to the nation's economy and security. Washington is granting Intel several billion dollars to expand domestic production of military-purpose computer chips. Intel is the nation's only designer and maker of leading-edge microprocessors. Fast and reliable semiconductors are critical to the amplifiers and signal-processing parts of radars used in air defenses, to the targeting and guidance systems of missiles, and to the secure networks that allow military forces to communicate. An enemy that can produce faster microprocessors than the U.S. would have a tremendous battlefield advantage.

If a foreign adversary wanted to weaken the U.S., it could hardly do better than wage the type of legal warfare that VLSI has brought against Intel. As former Attorney General Michael Mukasey has noted in these pages, this practice is a direct threat to America's security.

What is VLSI and are foreign governments involved in its campaign against Intel? We don't know. VLSI Technologies Inc., a semiconductor manufacturer in the 1980s and '90s, has been defunct for more than two decades. The current VLSI makes no products and has no relation to the old VLSI. It appears to have appropriated the name to obscure itself, a common tactic among nonpracticing patent-litigation entities.

VLSI's parent company is Fortress Investment Group, a hedge fund owned in large part by interests in Abu Dhabi. The group is also a member of the International Legal Finance Association, an organization that lobbies against litigation-finance disclosure. VLSI has resisted revealing the identities of the investors in its litigation against Intel. When Colm F. Connolly, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Delaware, ordered VLSI to disclose who was funding its litigation in August 2022, the company agreed to dismiss its case with prejudice. (Fortress didn't respond to a request for comment.)

This was an extraordinary act. VLSI had pursued its lawsuit against Intel for several years. Nearly 1,000 filings had been entered in the case, and the company must have spent millions on the proceedings. Yet it seemingly preferred to walk away, pledging never to sue Intel or its customers on the patents.

VLSI has continued to sue Intel on other patents in other jurisdictions, particularly where courts don't require disclosure of third-party funding. The company has also revealed that its investors include "sovereign wealth funds" -- i.e., foreign governments. China, for example, operates such a sovereign wealth fund, the China Investment Corp. Beijing also files patent lawsuits in the U.S. through entities such as PurpleVine IP, which doesn't disclose in court who controls it unless it's forced to.

It's reasonably likely that foreign powers are funding the VLSI litigation. That wouldn't be surprising; some of our foreign adversaries are already engaged in widespread industrial espionage and technology expropriation against U.S. companies. What's troubling is that we would allow this to happen without requiring sufficient disclosure.

Americans are a trusting people, who allow broad access to our judicial system. Yet as Judge D. Michael Fisher of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in 2011: "One of the essential qualities of a Court of Justice is that its proceedings should be public." This means, as another judge wrote, that "the people have a right to know who is using their courts."

With hundreds of patent lawsuits filed every year that receive financing from third parties, it's past time for the U.S. to require disclosure of third-party litigation funding.

---

Mr. Matal, a patent lawyer, served as acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 2017-18." [1]

1. Patent Lawsuits Are a National-Security Threat. Matal, Joseph.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 21 Mar 2024: A.17.   

Israeli minister: We will attack Rafah even if the whole world is against us

 And then we will attack the whole world.

Izraelio ministras: pulsime Rafą, net jei visas pasaulis bus prieš mus

O paskui pulsime visą pasaulį.

Izraelio ministras: pulsime Rafą, net jei visas pasaulis bus prieš mus

Skaitykite daugiau: https://www.lrytas.lt/pasaulis/ivykiai/2024/03/22/news/izraelio-ministras-pulsime-rafa-net-jei-visas-pasaulis-bus-pries-mus-31098312

Bankruptcy of Lithuania: V. Janulevičius presented grim scenarios that could await Lithuanians this year: one bad, the other bearable

" On Wednesday, the representatives of the Bank of Lithuania presented updated forecasts for the growth of the Lithuanian economy. Compared to last year, when the country's economy shrank by 0.3 percent, they should be happy, because it is predicted that the economy will grow by 1.6 percent this year.

 

 

 

The representative of Luminor Bank gave even better news, stating that the country's economy will grow by even 2 percent this year. It is predicted that economic growth in 2025 will reach almost 3 percent.

 

 

 

Is everything really like that, or have all the economic problems already been solved and we just need to wait for the European Central Bank (ECB) to start reducing interest rates (which may have to wait until autumn, which is also not at all encouraging)? I think that even these optimistic predictions are way ahead of reality. And I see two scenarios, one bad and the other, let's say, tolerable. Let's assess the situation realistically.

 

 

 

First, this year's economic recovery will not particularly please Lithuanian industry representatives. There are several reasons for this. Let's start with the fact that in 2023, compared to 2022, the volume of manufacturing production in both the European Union and Lithuania decreased. It decreased by 1.4 percent in the entire European Union, while in Lithuania it decreased by 4.6 percent. German manufacturing, which is an important customer of our manufacturing, saw output fall by 0.6 percent. This is the fourth annual contraction in manufacturing output in the past five years.

 

 

 

The world's supply chains and international trade, which were supposed to recover after the pandemic, are today marred by geopolitical conflicts. Product deliveries are taking longer, companies are building larger inventories because they want to reduce the risks of running out of stock. Supply chains for strategic products are being 'nationalised' or 'regionalised'. This can lead to increasing production prices and decreasing resource utilization efficiency. The world international trade map is "regionalizing" as well. It is predicted that international trade will grow much more slowly in the coming years than in the past. If international trade grew by more than 3 percent in 2015-2019. annually, i.e. in 2020-2024, its growth barely exceeds 2 percent.

 

 

 

  Better knowledge is not expected after 2024. The export of Lithuanian goods in 2023 was 11 percent. lower than in 2022, the export of goods of Lithuanian origin decreased somewhat less, but also significantly -10.6 percent. Most of the goods produced in Lithuania are exported to European Union countries. About 60 percent go there of all exported goods, of which almost 70 percent are goods of Lithuanian origin. It is these our export markets that are experiencing difficulties. Last year, more than 25 percent exports to Latvia decreased, to Estonia - more than 15 percent, to Sweden - more than 13 percent, to Germany - more than 12 percent. Economic growth in these, perhaps our main international trade partners, will not please us this year either. It is predicted that the economy of the entire European Union will grow by only 0.9 percent this year. In addition to all external factors of the country, insufficient demand in export markets, the manufacturing industry and business in Lithuania also face internal challenges.

 

 

 

Although energy prices have decreased, they remain relatively high. Too high.

 

 

 

And there are still no practical solutions that would fundamentally change energy prices. Insufficient demand (especially in export markets), stagnant green transformation in times of high capital costs, stagnant de-bureaucratization and European business competitiveness (which simply needs to be reinvented, because I believe we are stuck in European competitiveness 2.0, when the US and China are rapidly moving towards competitiveness 5.0 stages) should be that "emergency" message (which the services like to send to every citizen's mobile phones as soon as the wind gets stronger) to each of us and especially to the policy-making and implementing institutions.

 

 

 

Yes, something is moving somewhere, but too slowly, and the good wishes and ambitions of politicians keep bumping into our own bureaucratic jungle. While we desperately debate whether we still need to support renewable energy, the clock on our competitiveness is ticking.

 

 

 

Well, we are back to high interest rates, which the ECB may not find the political will to remove for a long time. And the longer it is not found, the more we will have nothing to invest in more efficient technologies, sustainability and the same renewable energy. What has not been done that the RRF money still cannot reach us in any way? Long pause... That's why I think that this vicious cycle of a stagnant Europe - a blocked ECB - increasingly stagnant investments in Lithuania will not allow us to achieve the kind of results predicted by optimistic banking analysts.

 

 

 

My forecast is much more gloomy: I think that if the RRF funds do not reach the business in time, we will have only 0.8 percent. growth. Otherwise, if the wheel is unstuck, it  would move - I think the maximum we can expect is 1.5 percent growth. Thus, even the scenario of the Bank of Lithuania is only possible under one condition - improving access to capital. But while there is no light at the end of the tunnel on this matter, the representatives of the industrial sector will likely be happy only with blooming cherry blossoms this spring."

 

 

Lietuvos bankrotas: V. Janulevičius pateikė niūrius scenarijus, kurie šiemet gali laukti lietuvių: vienas blogas, kitas – pakenčiamas

" Trečiadienį Lietuvos banko atstovai pristatė atnaujintas Lietuvos ekonomikos augimo prognozes. Lyginant su praėjusiais metais, kai šalies ekonomika susitraukė 0,3 proc., jos turėtų džiuginti, nes prognozuojama, kad šiais metais ekonomika augs 1,6 procento.

 

Dar geresnių žinių pažėrė „Luminor“ banko atstovas, teigiantis, kad šalies ekonomika šiemet augs net 2 procentais. Prognozuojama, kad ekonomikos augimas 2025 metais sieks kone 3 procentus.

 

Ar tikrai viskas taip, ar jau visos ekonominės bėdos išspręstos ir tik reikia sulaukti Europos Centrinio Banko (ECB) palūkanų mažinimo pradžios (kurios gali tekti palaukti ir iki rudens, kas irgi visiškai nedžiugina)? Aš manau, kad net šios optimistinės prognozės gerokai prasilenkia su realybe. Ir matau du scenarijus, vieną blogą, o kitą, sakykime taip, pakenčiamą. Įsivertinkime situaciją realiai.

 

Pirma, šių metų ekonomikos atsigavimas ne itin džiugins Lietuvos pramonės atstovus. Tam yra kelios priežastys. Pradėkime nuo to, kad tiek Europos Sąjungos, tiek Lietuvos apdirbamosios gamybos produkcijos apimtys 2023 metais, palyginti su 2022 metais, sumažėjo. Visoje Europos Sąjungoje jos mažėjo 1,4 proc., o Lietuvoje jos sumažėjo 4,6 procento. Vokietijos apdirbamosios gamybos, kuri yra svarbi mūsų apdirbamosios gamybos užsakovė, produkcijos apimtys krito 0,6 procento. Tai jau ketvirtas metinis apdirbamosios gamybos susitraukimas per pastaruosius penkerius metus.

 

Po pandemijos turėjusias atsigauti pasaulio tiekimo grandines ir tarptautinę prekybą šiandien darko geopolitiniai konfliktai. Prekių pristatymai trunka ilgiau, įmonės formuoja didesnes atsargas, nes nori sumažinti rizikas likti be atsargų. Strateginių produktų tiekimo grandinės „nacionalizuojamos“ arba „regionalizuojamos“. Tai gali lemti didėjančias produkcijos kainas ir mažėjantį išteklių panaudojimo efektyvumą. Pasaulio tarptautinės prekybos žemėlapis „regionalizuojasi“ taip pat. Prognozuojama, kad artimiausiais metais tarptautinė prekyba augs gerokai lėčiau nei praeityje. Jei 2015–2019 metais tarptautinė prekyba augdavo daugiau kaip 3 proc. kasmet, tai 2020–2024 metais jos augimas jau vos peržengia 2 procentus.

 

 Geresnių žinių nesitikima ir po 2024 metų. Lietuvos prekių eksportas 2023 metais buvo 11 proc. mažesnis nei 2022 metais, lietuviškos kilmės prekių eksportas sumažėjo kiek mažiau, bet ir apčiuopiamai –10,6 procento. Didžioji dalis Lietuvoje pagamintų prekių yra eksportuojamos į Europos Sąjungos šalis. Ten iškeliauja apie 60 proc. visų eksportuojamų prekių, iš kurių beveik 70 proc. yra lietuviškos kilmės prekės. Būtent šios mūsų eksporto rinkos patiria sunkumų. Praėjusiais metais daugiau nei 25 proc. sumažėjo eksportas į Latviją, į Estiją – daugiau nei 15 proc., į Švediją – daugiau nei 13 proc., į Vokietiją – daugiau nei 12 procentų. Šiose mūsų bene pagrindinėse tarptautinės prekybos partnerėse ekonomikų augimas šiais metais irgi nedžiugins. Prognozuojama, kad visos Europos Sąjungos ekonomika šiais metais augs tik 0,9 procento. Šalia visų išorinių šalies veiksnių, nepakankamos paklausos eksporto rinkose, apdirbamoji pramonė ir verslas Lietuvoje susiduria ir su vidiniais iššūkiais.

 

Nors energijos kainos yra sumažėjusios, jos išlieka palyginti aukštos. Per aukštos.

 

O praktinių sprendinių, kurie iš esmės keistų energijos kainas, dar nėra. Nepakankamos paklausos (ypač eksporto rinkose), aukštų kapitalo kaštų laikais stringanti žalioji transformacija, stringanti debiurokratizacija ir Europos verslo konkurencingumas (kurį reikia tiesiog iš naujo išrasti, nes, manau, esame užstrigę Europos konkurencingumo 2.0 versijoje, kai JAV ir Kinija sparčiai žengia link 5.0 konkurencingumo etapų) turėtų būti ta „emergency“ žinutė (kurias pamėgo siuntinėti tarnybos kiekvienam piliečiui į mobiliuosius telefonus, kai tik stipresnis vėjas pakyla) kiekvienam iš mūsų ir ypač politiką formuojančioms ir įgyvendinančioms institucijoms.

 

Taip, kažkas kažkur juda, bet per lėtai, o politikų geri norai ir ambicijos vis atsitrenkia ir į mūsų pačių biurokratijos džiungles. Kol beviltiškai ginčijamės, ar vis dar reikia remti atsinaujinančią energetiką, mūsų konkurencingumo laikrodis tiksi.

 

Na, ir sukus apsukus grįžtame prie aukštų palūkanų, kurioms nukrapštyti politinės valios ECB gali ilgai nerasti. O kuo ilgiau neras – tuo labiau neturėsime ko investuoti į našesnes technologijas, tvarumą ir tą pačią atsinaujinančią energetiką. Kas dar nepadaryta, kad RRF pinigai vis dar niekaip negali mūsų pasiekti? Ilga pauzė... Todėl ir manau, kad šitas užburtas stagnuojančios Europos – užsiblokavusio ECB – vis labiau stringančių investicijų Lietuvoje ratas neleis mums pasiekti tokių rezultatų, kokius prognozuoja optimistai bankų analitikai.

 

Mano prognozė kur kas niūresnė: manau, jei RRF lėšos nepasieks verslo laiku, turėsime vos 0,8 proc. augimą. Kitu atveju – jei užstrigęs ratas pajudėtų – manau, maksimumas, kurios galime tikėtis, yra 1,5 procento augimas. Taigi net Lietuvos banko scenarijus įmanomas tik su viena sąlyga – gerėjančios prieigos prie kapitalo. Bet kol šiuo klausimu šviesos tunelio gale nematyti, pramonės sektoriaus atstovus šį pavasarį greičiausiai džiugins tik žydinčios sakuros.“

If the US elects Trump because of the price spike, Zelensky will get no more money: The US urged Ukraine to stop attacking Russian oil refineries

 "United States has called on Ukraine to end attacks on Russian energy infrastructure and warned that drone strikes could raise global oil prices and provoke retaliation.

According to the daily, based on three sources familiar with the situation, Washington's warning was passed on to officials of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Main Intelligence Directorate.

An insider to The Financial Times said the White House was "increasingly frustrated by the brazen Ukrainian drone attacks targeting oil refineries, terminals, depots and storage facilities across western Russia, affecting the country's oil refining capacity."

Russia remains one of the world's most important energy exporters despite Western sanctions on its oil and gas industry. This year, oil prices have increased by approximately 15 percent. — to $85 (about 78.5 euros) a barrel, sending fuel prices soaring just as US President Joe Biden kicked off his election campaign.

Washington is also worried that if the Ukrainians continue to attack Russian facilities, the Russians may retaliate with attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

"We do not encourage or allow attacks inside Russia," said a spokesman for the US National Security Council.

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) declined to comment. The press representative of the Security Service of Ukraine also refused to provide comments, and the staff of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the President did not respond to the daily's inquiries."

More: 

  "Washington is also concerned that if Ukraine continues to strike Russian facilities, including many located hundreds of kilometers from the border, Russia could retaliate and strike energy infrastructure that the West relies on, including the pipeline that carries oil through Russia to the global market is supplied from Kazakhstan. Western companies including ExxonMobil and Chevron use this pipeline, which Moscow briefly shut down in 2022."  

 

Jei JAV dėl kainų šuolio išrinks Trumpa, baigsis Zelenskiui pinigai: JAV paragino Ukrainą nebeatakuoti Rusijos naftos perdirbimo įmonių

 “Jungtinės Amerikos Valstijos (JAV) paragino Ukrainą nutraukti atakas prieš Rusijos energetikos infrastruktūrą ir įspėjo, kad bepiločių smūgiai gali padidinti pasaulines naftos kainas ir išprovokuoti kerštą.

Kaip rašo dienraštis, remdamasis trimis su situacija susipažinusiais šaltiniais, Vašingtono perspėjimas buvo perduotas Ukrainos saugumo tarnybos ir Vyriausiosios žvalgybos valdybos pareigūnams.

Vienas „The Financial Times“ pašnekovas pareiškė, kad Baltieji rūmai „vis labiau nusivilia įžūliomis ukrainiečių bepiločių atakomis, nukreiptomis prieš naftos perdirbimo įmones, terminalus, depus ir saugyklas visoje vakarinėje Rusijos dalyje ir paveikusiomis šalies naftos perdirbimo pajėgumus“.

Rusija išlieka viena iš svarbiausių pasaulinių energijos eksportuotojų, nepaisant Vakarų įvestų sankcijų jos naftos ir dujų pramonės sektoriui. Šiais metais naftos kainos išaugo maždaug 15 proc. – iki 85 JAV dolerių (apie 78,5 euro) už barelį, dėl ko degalų kainos pakilo kaip tik tada, kai JAV prezidentas Joe Bidenas pradėjo rinkimų kampaniją.

Vašingtoną taip pat neramina tai, kad jeigu ukrainiečiai toliau atakuos Rusijos objektus, rusai gali atsakyti atakomis prieš Ukrainos energetikos infrastruktūrą.

„Neskatiname ir neleidžiame rengti atakų Rusijos viduje“, – sakė JAV Nacionalinio saugumo tarybos atstovas.

Centrinė žvalgybos agentūra (CŽA) atsisakė komentuoti. Ukrainos saugumo tarnybos atstovas spaudai irgi atsisakė pateikti komentarų, o Vyriausiosios žvalgybos valdybos ir Prezidento kanceliarijos darbuotojai neatsakė į dienraščio užklausas.“ 

Daugiau:

"Vašingtonas taip pat nerimauja, kad jei Ukraina ir toliau smogs Rusijos objektams, įskaitant daugelį objektų, esančių už šimtų kilometrų nuo sienos, Rusija gali imtis atsakomųjų veiksmų ir smogti energetikos infrastruktūrai, kuria remiasi Vakarai. Tai apima ir naftotiekį, kuriuo nafta per Rusiją į pasaulinę rinką tiekiama iš Kazachstano. Vakarų bendrovės, įskaitant „ExxonMobil“ ir „Chevron“, naudojasi šiuo naftotiekiu, kurį Maskva trumpam uždarė 2022 m."