IP-watch has an article (subscribers only on) the pseudo-"patent reform" in the United States, where the Mark Chandler, senior vice president of legal services and general counsel of Cisco Systems, was interviewed:
Knowles, Housel, and Mark Chandler - senior vice president of legal services and general counsel of Cisco Systems - agreed that if anything is to get done in the next Congress on patent reform, interested parties need to do more to come together on the more controversial issues. It is better for industries to hash it out themselves than let lawmakers muddle with the details, they concurred. "This is a sausage-making process" and whatever industry gets accomplished with the USPTO could look totally different once Congress gets done with it, said Chandler. "I certainly believe there's no one way to skin the cat and we should be able to find ways to work together toward more certainty in outcomes." Another problem with the patent system now, Chandler said, is that technology companies all too often find themselves as defendants in patent suits, and the number defendants being named in the suits has increased eight-fold in the last few decades.
Here is another statement from the same Mark Chandler:
What's driving the debate are arguments that patent litigation in the US is out of control. Holston says HP will spend $US75 million this year defending itself against patent cases. Cisco spends more each year defending itself in patent cases than in salaries for 150 people, Cisco general counsel Mark Chandler says. "It has become a real tax on innovation because of the litigation," Chandler says. "Any one of those cases can be $US5 million or $US10 million in litigation fees," says Tim Crean, chief intellectual property counsel for SAP, the world's largest business software maker. "When you add it up, there's a substantial burden."
He also said that money spent on litigation could be better spent on R&D:
Mark Chandler, Cisco: "As an innovator and large patent holder - our portfolio was recently rated No. 1 in the telecommunications world by the Patent Board - we certainly support strong laws that protect inventors' creativity and innovations and the companies and people who may ultimately own those inventions. Yet, we face a growing tide of patent litigation and an environment that is deterring innovation by siphoning resources that could be spend on research and development."
He also said that the number of lawsuits has been multiplied by 10 in 10 years time:
Cisco General Counsel Mark Chandler said the maker of communications equipment faced three lawsuits per year a decade ago, while today, the company has 30. Each can cost millions of dollars to fight.