2 Minutes of AI Patent Search & 1 Missed Non-English Filing Will Cost $4M in Litigation
You run the AI search. The tool returns 40 references in under two minutes. The top results look relevant. The technology domain aligns. The concept matches. You feel like the search is heading somewhere. This is precisely when the risk starts. AI tools have changed the pace of patent searching. Semantic search finds conceptually similar […]
6 AI Tools, One Sequence: GreyB’s Six-Layer SEP Patent Invalidation Process
Of the 800-plus SEP invalidation searches GreyB completed in the past year, the decisive prior art came from outside patent databases in most cases. The key evidence often did not come from a granted patent or a published research paper. It came from a 3GPP working group proposal, a draft contribution, an IEEE meeting document, […]
Why Telecom Companies Need to Watch Base Station Patent Transfers More Closely in 2026
An analysis of approximately 3224 US litigation cases from 2021 to 2025 involved ~3922 unique US patents. A deeper dive into those patents revealed that base station-related patents account for 52% of all telecom litigation on the docket. The five most frequently named defendants across that period are AT&T, Samsung, Verizon, T-Mobile USA, and Ericsson. […]
Why 500 Relevant LTE-M Patents Beat 2,000 Declared LTE Families Every Time
A licensor walks into a Cat-M1 negotiation citing 2,000 declared LTE families. The implementer across the table does not dispute the number. Instead, they ask a different question: how many of those families cover features does a smart meter actually use? That question is the new negotiation. And most licensors are not ready to answer […]
The 5G Licensor with Fewer Patents Is Winning the Negotiations with this one StrategyÂ
With over 100,000 patent families declared essential to 5G standards and 21 companies holding portfolios exceeding 1,000 SEPs each, the instinct heading into licensing negotiations is to lead with scale. Declared family count. ETSI share. Portfolio rank by volume. The assumption is that the number carries the leverage. But, in a growing share of 5G […]
AI Just Made SEP Claim Mapping 80% Faster – 600 Hours of Human Work to 14 Days
In SEP licensing, a declaration costs almost nothing, but challenging it costs a fortune. Across 5G, 4G LTE, HEVC, and Wi-Fi, rigorous independent reviews consistently show that 30% to 60% of declared portfolios are non-essential. This isn’t just a margin of error; it is a predictable outcome of declaration systems designed for speed, not verification. […]
Samsung Lost $278 Million. Google Challenged the Same Patents at PTAB in 2026!
Fifty-one proceedings in March 2026. The number alone is the first signal worth reading. By the time these petitions were filed, Director Squires had centralized institution decisions, removed diagnostic reasoning from summary denials, and presided over an institution rate that bottomed near zero in the October-November 2025 window. The practitioners who filed in March knew […]
PTAB New Rules in 2026: Trends, Tensions & the Future of Patent Disputes
Since 2025, the U.S. patent system has moved into a period of active recalibration, with the PTAB at the center of policy, legal, and industry debate. Recent congressional discussions and USPTO actions frame this shift as an effort to restore balance by prioritizing patent quality, predictability, and rights that reliably support investment and commercialization. At […]
Beyond What AI Can Search: How Technical Context Cracked a Patent Invalidity Case
Ryan Mercer, Senior IP Counsel at a mid-size audio technology firm, was three months into an active patent infringement lawsuit. The plaintiff held a multi-mode audio signal decoder patent, a 150-word independent claim covering a specific spectral processing behavior that Ryan’s firm’s products were alleged to infringe on. Settlement was not the preferred path. The […]
Product to Patent Mapping Strategy to Align with German Patent Tax Laws
Marcus, senior patent counsel at a global networking equipment manufacturer, contacted us with an unusual request. His company’s German subsidiary faced a tax penalty. The German Tax Authority challenged the transfer pricing structure, specifically questioning whether the European patents licensed to the subsidiary were actually used in products generating revenue in Germany. Marcus’s request was […]
More Suits, Faster Courts, Bigger Pools. How Automotive OEMs Can Negotiate Strongly in 2026?
Over 100,000 patent families have been declared essential to 4G and 5G standards. A growing share of licensing campaigns built on that number are now targeting vehicle manufacturers. The shift is deliberate. Smartphone licensing has largely matured, and most major handset manufacturers are already under agreement. Automotive is the next major market, and licensors are […]
Largest Patent Buyers in 2025 and What Their Acquisitions Signal
In February 2025, Peninsula Technologies acquired 364 patents from Ofinno, and in April 2025, Dish Wireless was sued. With just 63 days, the acquisition-to-enforcement window of licensing companies has shrunk from years to weeks, and the need to be on the toes with these acquisition activities has never been higher. Peninsula Technology’s purchase was among […]
Wi-Fi 7 Signals That Will Decide Who Leads & Who Pays in Licensing in 2026
Key insights: Apple’s iPhone 17 launch quietly confirmed a turning point for Wi-Fi 7. By explicitly calling out Multi-Link Operation (MLO), a core feature of the standard, the launch signaled that Wi-Fi 7 has moved beyond lab validation into real-world implementation. Similar product disclosures, combined with a rising number of certified devices, suggest that Wi-Fi […]
Paying $7K a Patent with No ROI? A University Patent Monetization Strategy That Works
Across the U.S., academic tech transfer is under strain. In 2023, U.S. institutions reported a 33% year-over-year decline in patent licenses. Meanwhile, unused patents keep costing money. Utility patents require three maintenance payments at 3.5/7.5/11.5 years. After the 2025 fee changes, large-entity fees total $14,470 ($2,150 + $4,040 + $8,280). Small-entity nonprofits (which include many […]
4 Expert-Validated FTO Tools to Simplify Complex Patent Searches in 2025
Traditional Boolean-heavy methods, when performing Freedom to Operate (FTO) search, once served well, but they now feel like hand tools in a power-tool era. Spending hours crafting Boolean strings, reviewing endless irrelevant results, and manually chasing down legal status updates, only to end up with static reports or internal analyses that go stale within days. […]
Role of Patents in Semiconductor Industry Innovation: Litigation, Trends, and Opportunities
The semiconductor industry is a relentless engine of progress, powering everything from our smartphones to advanced AI systems. It’s an arena where innovation moves at lightning speed, making intellectual property (IP) not just a legal formality but a strategic imperative. In fact, a recent period saw a remarkable surge in patent applications, with over 75,000 […]